Huskies' Determination Not Enough to Overtake Flemington

The 11U Matawan-Aberdeen Huskies took on the Flemington Raptors on Friday night at Toomer field in Matawan for the first game in the 11U state tournament. Both teams are vying for the right to move onto regionals. 

The Huskies came up short Friday night, 16-9, in a game that was much closer than the score lets on. Matawan was within striking distance the entire time, staying within two to four runs until the last inning.  

In what was a long slug fest between the two teams, the game really came down to which team had hotter bats.

John Caielle came up with a big solo homerun in the bottom of the second to bring the Huskies within one. This was shortly after he made a diving play in right field the previous inning to save a run. 

With two outs in the top of the third, the Raptors bats came alive and the team never looked back. They rocked home four runs with two outs, including a two-run homerun by Sam Johnson. 

The Huskies came right back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning with consecutive RBI groundouts by Dominick Tutrone and Steven Salot, keeping the Huskies close at 6-3 through three innings. 

The Raptors struck again in the top of the fourth with a line drive three-run homerun which put the score at 9-3. 

Huskies came out swinging in the bottom of the fourth showing no sings of quitting. Richard Olsen scorched a RBI single up the middle to bring the Huskies closer to a win at 9-5. With two outs and the bases loaded, the Huskies lost an excellent opportunity to pull ahead when the Raptors got a third out.

After another three run inning by the Raptors, the Huskies still pressed forward. They started out the fifth inning with a single by Salot; he then stole second base which put him in scoring position for Matt Fitzsimmons to drive him home to cut the deficit. The Huskies again rallied for three runs making the score 12-8. However, they could not get that really big hit and left the bases loaded again in the fifth inning. 

The Raptors saw blood and went for the kill. In the top of the sixth inning they put up another four runs, which took all of the momentum from Huskies with the game all but out of reach.  

The Huskies will take the field today, July 23, at 12:15 against Montville.     

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