Updated: MSO Boys U10, U11 Teams Win League Championships

On July 29, the Maplewood South Orange Villagers U11 team won the New Providence Green League championship. The boys bested Westfield Blue, 5-3, to capture the title.

That same night, a nail-biter was taking place between the U10 Villagers and Mountainside in Meadowlands Park in South Orange. The 10-year-old Villagers summer baseball team kept their fans on the edge of the bleachers Thursday night as they came back from an 8-0 score in the third inning, to a breathtaking rally and 12-8 win for the championship. Full story coming soon from Brooke Lefferts.

The following Villagers U11 report comes from team scorekeeper Robert McPhillipsl:

In their championship game, the U11 Villagers jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning with Ben Rostan walking, stealing second and third, and then being driven in on a two-out single up the middle by Colin Jackson.

The game remained 1-0 through the third as Luke McPhillips shut down Westfield the first two innings followed by a 1-2-3 inning in the third by Mack Liederman. Defense ruled as both teams pulled off double plays and CJ Carey and Kyle Marcus made sterling defensive plays in the outfield for the Villagers.

Westfield finally broke through in the 4th inning with two runs, but catcher Zach Chmiel pounced on a bouncer in front of the plate for the first out, holding a runner on third. After a Westfield strikeout and with the bases loaded, second baseman Lucas Peterson handled a grounder to force the runner at second to get the final out.

The Villagers came back quickly in the bottom of the inning, with Jonas Skagerlind beating out an infield single, advancing to third, and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Ben Rostan. Luke McPhillips and Colin Jackson managed to work walks off the tiring Westfield starter, but Westfield rebounded with a great running catch in right field on a line drive off the bat of Owen Durkin.

The Villagers switched pitchers again in the 5th, bringing in Jonas Skagerlind. Westfield quickly threatened by putting a runners on second and third, but Sean Grafing corralled a hard liner to first and doubled the runner off second. With two down, and their opportunity slipping away, Westfield tried to steal home. Catcher CJ Carey, however, snared a high pitch and dived in front of the plate to tag the runner for the third out.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Villagers broke through with three runs. Zach Chmiel absorbed a pitch to the ribs and Mack Liederman singled. Jared Mahoney placed a hit down the right field line to score Zach, and Donovan Hugel followed with a sacrifice fly to score Mack, with Jared moving to second. CJ Carey then hit a grounder to short that Westfield could not handle to drive in the final run to make the score 5-2.

Westfield, however, did not give in, scoring one run in the top of the 6th and bringing the tying run to the plate. Jonas Skagerlind, however, struck out the last two batters to seal the win.