Huskies Finish With a Win

In their last of three games in the 11U state tournament, the Matawan-Aberdeen Huskies took on the East Brunswick Bears Sunday night at Toomer field in Matawan. 

Although nothing was on the line for either team, with the Huskies out of the playoffs at 0-2 and the Bears locked in the one seed at 2-0, both teams came out fired up to play. 

The Huskies put together their best game yet against what was said by many to be the best team in the tournament. Their desire to win showed and ultimately paid off with a thrilling walk-off winning single to beat the Bears 7-6.

The Huskies jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a near homerun by Pat Cavagliano, which didn't quite clear the fence but knocked home two runs.

The Bears quickly retaliated in the top of the third inning with a solo blast by Ryan Crocco, which cut the Huskies lead to 2-1. This was also the first hit off of starting pitcher Jake Burlew, who was cruising through two no-hit innings.

The Huskies answered back with two runs in the top of the third.  After two straight walks on eight pitches, Matt Fitzsimmons came up and made those walks hurt, with a three run blast over the center field fence, giving the Huskies a 5-2 lead. 

Unlike the past few games, the Huskies' bats were connecting while they had runners in scoring position.

The top of the fourth inning, however, looked all too familiar for the Huskies, letting the Bears back to tie the game. The Bears got the first two guys across home plate in plays that could have easily been outs.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth when Richard Olsen came to the plate and lead off the inning with a single that the Huskies were back in business. Olsen proceeded with a huge steal of second base after multiple throw overs to first. 

It wasn’t until later in the inning that starting pitcher Burlew came up with one out and the bases loaded with a single to left field to give the Huskies a one run lead going into the top of the sixth. 

Only three outs away from a huge victory, Matt Bartus of the Bears took the first pitch he saw in the inning over the center field fence to tie the game. 

Austin Nappi came up in the bottom of the sixth inning with a huge single to start it off for the Huskies.  He would then advance to second on a wild pitch with nobody out.  Nappi than caught everyone sleeping with one out and committed grand larceny in stealing third with nobody paying attention to him.

Ben Disabatino came up with a clutch single to center field, giving the Huskies the victory over the Bears. 

The state championship title might be out of reach, but the boys will battle it out in the Edison and East Brunswick tournaments starting on Tuesday, July 26.