By Sean Reilly
Nick Scudilla had a great Sunday morning at Diamond Nation, and it sparked his Morris County Cubs 9U team to a championship.
The Cubs opened play at 8 a.m. against the Jersey Storm in their final pool game in the April Fools tournament, with a championship berth on the line.
The score was tied with one out in the top of the fifth and final inning, since the play clock was about to hit zero. Scudilla had a three ball, no strike count when he hit a go-ahead home run to center field. His teammates tacked on two more runs for an 8-5 win.
That sent the Cubs into the 10 o’clock final opposite Stamford Travel 9U Navy. The Connecticut team had reached the final by winning its two pool games by lopsided margins, scoring 27 runs along the way.
Scudilla had the challenging starting pitching assignment in the final. He came through in a major way, allowing one run on three hits over 3⅓ innings as the Cubs gained a 10-4 victory. He struck out eight and walked four, and was selected the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“This is great,” he said of the award. “But everybody came out and played well for us.”
In the final, Stamford had a runner on third with two out in the bottom of the first with the game scoreless. Scudilla followed with a strikeout of the cleanup batter who had two hits and four RBI in Stamford’s earlier game on Sunday.
“I just tried to stay calm,” Scudilla said. “That’s really important for pitching.”
The Cubs then erupted for six runs in the top of the second.
Jace Rowan led off with a single to center field on a 2-2 pitch. He was safe at second after beating a throw on Nico Castoro’s fielder’s choice grounder to second. Colton Bennington followed with a full-count walk to load the bases.
Jake Clougher blooped a single into shallow center to score Rowan with the first run. Easton Riddle was up next, and an out was recorded at the plate when the lead runner tried to score on a wild pitch. With runners now on second and third, Riddle hit a grounder near the mound which resulted in a fielder’s choice that scored Bennington for a 2-0 lead.
A pitcher-to-first ground out placed runners on second and third for leadoff batter Logan Bowley, who was safe on an error that scored both.
Bowley advanced on a passed ball before Grayson Shepulski walked. Tyler Drown (3-for-4) hit an RBI single to third, and Scudilla was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Kash Keelin singled past third to score Shepulski for a 6-0 advantage.
Marcus Vera led off the bottom of the frame with a triple for Stamford, but Scudilla showed his toughness by striking out the next three batters to maintain the shutout.
“Getting those runs made it easier,” he said. “We were cracking the bat. I just went slower with everything and it helped me get out of that.”
Stamford scored in the bottom of third after Colby Wendell walked with one out and later scored on a wild pitch.
The Cubs, though, added three more runs in the top of the fourth for a 9-1 lead. Bowley (2-for-4) led off with a single, after the next two batters were retired, Scudilla singled to left field. Bowley scored on an overthrow to third after moving up on a pitch that bounced away from the catcher. Rowan then hit an RBI single to right and Castoro reached on an RBI fielder’s choice.
Nick Scudilla of Morris County Cubs 9U was named 9U April Fool’s Most Valuable Player.
With the clock approaching 0:00 in the top of the fifth, Bowley hit a one-out single to center and advanced when Shepulski reached on a fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop. Drown followed with a run-scoring single to right.
Stamford scored three times in the bottom of the inning. Brenan O’Meara hit a run-scoring double, Wendell had an RBI groundout and M.J. Intrieri singled across the other run.
The championship marked an outstanding start to the 2025 season for the Cubs.
“They were really good teams that we beat,” Scudilla said. “Now I’m looking to keep doing my thing for baseball, which is to pitch, sometimes catch, play first base and hit.”