When Rob Rutledge doubled to left with two outs in the top of the seventh inning on earlier this week, you could feel the excitement rising on the Berkeley side.
And when Nick Bondulich worked a 1-2 count in to an eight-pitch walk, the buzz heightened and the Berkeley Senior Leaguers appeared to be poised to rally for a victory once more.
It was not to be, however, as Manchester brought in a reliever to shut the door with a strikeout, and with a 3-1 victory eliminated Berkeley from the District 18 tournament at Edmund Hibbard Park in Brick.
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Berkeley had hoped to repeat their Junior League team success, where they were District 18 champions.
But as happened in their loss to Holbrook on Saturday evening, defensive miscues were costly. In the first inning, a fly ball bounced off an outfielder’s glove, and the runner it allowed scored on back-to-back fielder’s choices. In the third inning, a single up the middle scored a runner who reached on an error, and a fly ball that fell into short center field plated the second run.
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It could have been worse. Jon Dula, who allowed just three hits and struck out two in five innings, pitched out of a jam in the second inning, when consecutive errors and steals gave Manchester runners on second and third with one out, inducing a ground ball to second and a strikeout.
It looked like Berkeley was poised for a big inning in the top of the third. Eddie Corrigan singled to right, Rich Galati received a four-pitch walk and Bob Rutledge laid a perfect bunt down the third-base line to advance the runners and reach first safely. Bondulich singled to drive in Corrigan, but that was the only run Berkeley was able to push across.
Berkeley’s defense had some fine moments as well, erasing two runners in the bottom of the fifth when both were caught in rundowns trying to steal.
While there was disappointment at the loss, there was an air of relief in the air among many of the parents, who discussed vacation plans that had been up in the air as a result of the team’s success.
“At least now I don’t have to worry about taking off work (on short notice),” one mother said.
