Millburn's 8 & under team began their Cal Ripken District 12 playoffs with a game against Cranford, 2014's Northern NJ 8 & under State Champs. Cranford jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st with 4 singles, 4 steals and a sacrifice. In the bottom of the second with bases loaded, Millburn's youngest player, Koji Fujita, stepped to the plate and erased the Cranford lead with one swing of the bat as he doubled to center scoring all three runners and tying the game at 3-3. Cranford again took the lead in the top of the 3rd with 3 runs from their 4, 5 and 6 hitters. This time though, Millburn matched their 3 runs and added three more to take a 9-6 lead with clutch hits again from Fujita and Noah Shidlovsky. In the 4th inning, Millburn allowed one run, but added 6 more of their own. In the 5th, Millburn blanked Cranford, while scoring twice more. For the game, Fujita went 3-4 with a walk and 7 RBIS to lead the 17-7 win over Cranford.
Next up in the district playoffs was Mountainside. In this case, Millburn ran into a buzzsaw with Mountainside's flame throwing righty lefty combination of Adornato and Filiaci. Millburn took the loss 11-1 and was eliminated from the State Tourney.
Millburn's league season continues in the New Providence Gold League where they visited Florham Park on Wednesday and won 15-5. On Saturday, Summit visited Millburn's Gero Park as Millburn defended their home turf with a 4-2 victory. Millburn's 8 & under travel team heads into the second half of the season at 9-3 and playing well.
