O'Donnell, Radelunas Lead Madison 11-Year-Olds To Third Straight Win

The Madison 11-year-old Little League baseball team played great defense for five innings and received another outstanding pitching effort from Matt Radelunas. Winning Sunday's District 1 tournament game against Denville was just a matter of coming up with one big hit.

In the bottom of the fifth, second baseman Matt O'Donnell came up with the biggest hit of them all - a grand slam that soared over the right field fence - and Madison went on to defeat Denville, 9-1, at Sonny Vitale Field to improve to 3-0 in pool play.

With the win, Madison is now the only remaining unbeaten team in Pool B with two games to play. Denville, Roxbury, Chester and Rockaway each have one loss, while Tri-Town has two. The top two teams in Pool B advance to the championship round.

O'Donnell's blast capped a six-run fifth inning that saw Madison blow open a tight game. Madison's lead was just 3-1 before Alex Park led off with a single and Radelunas hit a flare down the left field line for a double.

Emilio Egea walked to load the bases with one out, and shortstop Matt Haughey lined a single to center to make it 4-1. Drew Brosie drove in his second run of the game with an RBI walk. Two batters later, O'Donnell hit a no-doubter, easily clearing the 200-foot fence and driving in Madison's final four runs.

"That was the nail in the coffin," said Madison coach Dan Betz. "They were the only unbeaten team left in our group. They're well-coached, a good team. It's a measure of just how good we are."

Radelunas pitched a complete game to pick up his second win of the tournament. The southpaw has not allowed an earned run in 11 innings, and in those two games he has struck out 11 and walked none.

"He's great, I can't say enough about him," Betz said. "He just throws strikes and gets ahead in the count."

On the rare occasions Radelunas - nicknamed "K-Rad" by his teammates - ran into trouble, his defense picked him up.

In the second inning, Haughey made a great stab of a ball coming off an awkward hop for the putout, and O'Donnell retired the very next out with a sprawling catch of line drive in between first and second base.

With Madison's lead just 2-1 in the top of the fourth, Denville put two runners on base, including the tying run at third. Denville's Justin Giacoblie hit a sharp ground ball to Haughey's left, but the shortstop made a diving play on his knees, and his throw beat Giacoblie by a half-step to preserve Madison's two-run lead.

"When we had to make a defensive play, we made it," Betz said. "They're a bunch of gamers. They're all good players, but they're a better team."

Radelunas closed out strong, striking out the last two batters he faced. On offense, Radelunas helped himself out with an RBI single in the second inning to put Madison on the scoreboard. He also led off the fourth with a walk and came around to score Madison's third run on Drew Brosie's RBI single.

Madison will close out pool play with games Tuesday at Chester and Thursday at home against Rockaway, both at 6 p.m.


Denville     0  0  1  0  0  0  -  1  6  2
Madison     0  2  0  1  6  x  -  9  7  3

MADISON:
-LF Emilio Egea: 1-for-1, run scored, 2 walks
-C Drew Brosie: 1-for-1, run scored, 2 RBI, 2 walks
-P Matt Radelunas: 6 innings, 1 run (0 earned), 6 hits, 6 strikeouts, 0 walks; 2-for-2, 2 runs scored, walk

DENVILLE:
-3B Justin Giacoblie: 1-for-2, run scored