By Rich Bevensee
The manner in which the Stafford Hitmen played five baseball games over the holiday weekend, one would have a difficult time explaining to a casual observer that this was a 13U squad playing its first tournament on a 90-foot diamond.
The Hitmen displayed confidence and comfort levels seldom seen in a group making its debut on the big field. They steamrolled four opponents, logged two shutouts, and departed Diamond Nation in Flemington with the championship trophy the players fully expected to take home.
In the final, Zando Kelly pitched a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts, cleanup hitter Mason Rogalski triggered a huge rally with an RBI triple, and the Hitmen of Ocean County roared to an 8-0, five-inning victory over Berkshire Reign of Massachusetts to conclude the 13U Labor Day Blast, Powered By Cortes and Hay.
Hitmen coach Andrew Finelli said only three of his players had experience playing on the 90-foot diamond – Kelly, Nick Iodaci and R.J. Sledzik.
“Besides those three players, the others hadn’t played on a 60-90 field,” Finelli said. “This was their weekend to get a feel for it. This is unbelievable. I’m super stoked. I think it was awesome. I’m so proud of them. If we didn’t win I’d be proud, but the fact that we came into Diamond Nation and won, I’m blown away.”
Rogalski was named Most Valuable Player after making only two batted outs the entire tournament. He logged a double, two triples and eight RBI for the weekend, and his two-out, RBI triple in the first inning kick-started the Hitmen offense in the championship game.
Rogalski said he knew his swing would need some small changes, but it was a challenge he met seamlessly.
“It wasn’t that hard,” Rogalski said. “I wanted to hit the ball and get some extra bases because I know it’s farther. Winning today is amazing. I’m not surprised. We knew we could play well. We showed up and believed we were going to win this.”
“Every ball that came off his bat was a hard line drive,” Finelli said. “A lot of these kids, on a 50-70 we would have hit a bunch of home runs. Here, they are outs. He adjusted his swing to hit line drives in the gap, and he started multiple rallies for us.”
Kelly, who played up at 14U last year, was clearly ready for the challenge of moving to the big field permanently. He reached 74 mph on the radar the first inning and his fastball stayed there through five innings. Reign batters struggled to catch up. Zando struck out the side in the third and fifth innings.
“He’s like the pride and joy of our organization. A tremendous leader,” Finelli said. “I coached him in Stafford Little League and his dad (Bruce Kelly) is the head of our organization. I’m glad that my son has the opportunity to play with him.”
Kelly gave up a single to Kody Lesser in the first inning and a walk to Spencer Kotski in the third. No other Reign batter reached first base.
“I played up for a year in 14U and now it’s come back to my own age and it’s much easier,” Kelly said. “Usually since it’s a farther distance, pitchers tend to push it more, so I was struggling with control a little bit. But I found my footing and got into my lower half a little more, and I started throwing strikes more consistently.
Mason Rogalski of the Stafford Hitmen was named 13U Labor Day Blast MVP.
“I would have loved a no-hitter but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Finelli said the process he used for preparing his young ballplayers for their new challenge was to throw them into practices with the 14U Hitmen.
“We mash them all together and they pick things up from each other, and they came out here and did a great job,” Finelli said. “We’re big on leadership and those guys (14U) have been doing it.”
After an initial, 11-8, pool play loss to the RBC Sheepdogs, the Hitmen blasted the CT Titans, 10-2, and Berkshire Reign, 8-0, to reach the semifinals. The Hitmen earned a berth in the final with some revenge against the Sheepdogs, winning 21-7.
Berkshire won its first two pool games – 8-5 against the Titans and 8-4 against the Sheepdogs – before bowing to the Hitmen, 8-0. In the semis, Reign ousted the Titans, 7-3.
In the final, Rogalski kicked off the Stafford offensive attack in the bottom of the first inning with a triple to the right-center gap which scored Andrew Finelli, the coach’s son. Iodaci sped around the diamond for an inside-the-park, two-run home run, and Tommy DeStefano scored on an infield error for a 4-0 bulge.
In the second, the Hitmen received back-to-back RBI doubles from Finelli and Kelly for a 6-0 lead.
In the fourth, Finelli added a sacrifice fly and Mason Germinario scored on a throwing error to account for the final margin.
Sawyer Layne pitched an inning for the Reign and Lesser pitched the final three frames.