Blue Devils 9U Baseball to Play for Championship

The Essex Blue Devils 9U baseball team defeated West Milford 11-1 on Monday to advance to the Cerbo Baseball League 9U championship game Wednesday night at Francisco Park at 6 p.m.

The Blue Devils (9-3) combined defense, timely hitting and strong pitching of Michael Maida, Brett Elphick and Ethan Charpentier, who combined for a one-hitter against West Milford (6-4).

With the game tied at 1 in the fourth inning, the Blue Devils scored six runs to break the game open. John Papandrea executed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Maida for a 2-1 lead.

Later in the inning, Jack Sherwood delivered the knockout blow with a two-out, three-run triple to extend the advantage. Will McCann also contributed with his bat and strong defense at third base. 

The Blue Devils will now face unbeaten Cerbo Sun Devils, of Montville, in the championship game. Cerbo won both regular-season games, most recently a 12-8 victory in which the Sun Devils rallied with six runs in the final inning.

The Blue Devils are coached by John Sherwood, Danny Maida and Kevin Raslowsky, all of whom are from West Caldwell. They train during the off-season at National Institute of Sports & Fitness in Cedar Grove and the teams are comprised of Caldwell and West Caldwell residents only.