It’s now or never: Freehold Township, North Wall path to Section 3 title got much harder

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – For the 12-year-old Little League All-Stars from Freehold Township and North Wall, their outlook for the New Jersey Section 3 tournament changed dramatically after Friday’s results against non-area teams.

Hamilton Township Recreation Baseball Association (HTRBA) dropped Freehold Township into the loser’s bracket with an 11-6 decision.

Likewise, Milltown bounced North Wall into the loser’s bracket with a 5-4 conclusion.

The new reality for the Jersey Shore hopefuls is that one more loss in the Section 3 Tournament and their summer dream of reaching the Little League World Series ends at Freehold Township Little League’s Sherwood Gloth Tournament Field.

North Wall Manager Brian Hunt could probably speak for both local teams involved in this dilemma when he mentioned what’s ahead, if either North Wall or Freehold Township are to win the Section 3 Tournament.

“We have to figure something out,” Hunt said. “Now, we have to win Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”

That’s a daunting task when you have pitching limits and a limited roster of 12-year-old All-Stars. But that’s the journey ahead for North Wall and Freehold Township.

Freehold Township emptied the bullpen

Once the Freehold Township coaching staff realized it was possible that the host team might not win Friday’s game, they turned to survival mode and tried to conserve pitching using five pitchers in Friday’s game. Julian Polo started and tossed 61 pitches. After that the bullpen was summoned and Dario Rodriguez (13 pitches), Ryan Van Kleef (42 pitches), Kobe Dancel (20 pitches) and Conne Nolan (12 pitches) all took the mound. Due to Little League pitching rules, Polo and Van Kleef aren’t available on Saturday, because “If a player pitches 21-35 pitches in a day, one (1) calendar day of rest must be observed.”

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North Wall dropped a heartbreak

North Wall took advantage of a miscommunication between Milltown pitcher Roshan Jagannathan and catcher Tyrus Lazar to take a 1-0 lead as North Wall’s Luke Dana scored from third base.

An error filled second inning allowed Milltown to go up 3-1.

The back-and-forth affair took another turn for North Wall in the third inning. North Wall’s Stanley Kingman was at the plate when he drew a walk. However, the ball squirted away from the catcher and that allowed another runner to score from third base for a 4-3 lead in the third inning.

But Milltown’s Ryder Redondo had the game-winning hit, an RBI-single, in the fourth inning to make it 5-4.

“We killed ourselves defensively. I think we had one earned run. Unfortunately, we had our backs against the wall, and we’re not making any excuses, but we were missing our catcher, who is a big part of our game,” Hunt said. “And that changes the scenarios to 12 players versus 13 players and what you have to do (per little league rules). It is rough but that’s what we have to deal with.”

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Freehold Township, HTRBA each had a big third inning

Freehold Township got it started in the top half of the inning with RBI-singles from Kobe Dancel and Bradley Santoro and with a two-run double from Ryan Van Kleef for a 4-0 lead.

That lead evaporated in the bottom half of the third as HTRBA stepped to plate swinging for the fences. In fact, HTRBA’s Austin Wright, the team’s No. 3 hitter, launched a three-run home run to center field to punctuate his team’s 8-run third inning. Teammates Shane Sammons added an RBI-double and Evan Lopez and Ethan Willever each had RBI-singles. Also, Alex Alonzo had a two-run double.

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All-hands on deck approach for North Wall pitching going forward

Despite losing, 5-4, North Wall only used two pitchers, starter Will Hunt and reliever Chris Knight. Hunt tossed 53 pitches and Knight hurled 50 pitches. Per Little League rules “If a player pitches 36-50 pitches in a day, two (2) calendar days of rest must be observed.” So neither Hunt or Knight are available on Saturday for North Wall, but should the team win Saturday, they’ll be available to go on Monday. Knight started his last batter under the 50-pitch threshold so Little League rules permit him to revert back to that threshold in regards to pitch count. So, that’s why he’s potentially available on Monday.

“We were close. Another runner on or a big hit there. We score and tie it up and we’re playing more and I like our odds at that point. It just didn’t work out today for us. We killed ourselves. We had bases loaded in the first inning and we only put one (run) across. That’s a tough way to start," North Wall's Hunt said. "You think that we’re going to have more of that and it just didn’t come after that as far as the runs. We didn’t have a huge inning that would have put us on top and that could have changed scenarios.”

Decision day Saturday

Two Jersey Shore area teams, Freehold Township and North Wall, played in the tournament's first elimination game on Saturday and Freehold Township won, 12-9. North Wall was eliminated from the Section 3 tournament with an 0-2 record while Freehold Township moved to 1-1 and advanced to Monday's loser's bracket game at 5:30 p.m.

Winner's bracket showdown

Toms River East, the defending Section 3 champion, defeated HTRBA, 6-4, on Saturday, to advance to Monday's winner's bracket final against Milltown. That game will be played at 8 p.m. (or following the elimination game featuring Freehold Township and HTRBA).

Sherlon Christie is a sports reporter at the Asbury Park Press and has covered sports at the Jersey Shore since 2004. Don't miss any of his coverage by subscribing at https://subscribe.app.com. You can contact him at https://linktr.ee/schristie2

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Little League: Freehold Township, North Wall have tough path to title