West Deptford Squeezes Its Way to Victory

Leading by a run in the sixth inning, the West Deptford American Legion baseball team loaded the bases and then deployed an often successful, yet rarely used bit of strategy.

West Deptford executed the suicide squeeze bunt.

And then the team did it again.

West Deptford scored two runs on the back-to-back squeezes, gaining some breathing room before pulling away for a 12-4 win over Bordentown, Friday night

“When I got the call from the coach, I knew I had to get it done, so I was going to do all I could to get the squeeze down and make sure we got the run in,” said Isaiah Easterling, who executed the second bunt. “They folded after we put those runs on them.”

Nick DeFrank opened the sixth with a single and Jason Fox was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. T.J. Dezzi then laid down a perfect bunt that stayed fair on the third base line to load the bases and McCabe Reim followed with the first squeeze.

Bordentown wasn’t expecting a second squeeze, but then again, neither was anyone involved in the game.

“It’s great coaching because they were sitting back on their heels, thinking we are just going to pound the ball and pound the ball,” Jakubowski said. “Small-ball is a part of the game with these new bats. You have to know how to bunt and we executed well today with back-to-back squeezes.

"I don’t think I have ever been part of a game with something like that.”

While small-ball was a huge part of West Deptford’s success, there was also some power, thanks to Jakubowski. With one out in the first, Drew Burdsall walked on four pitches, bringing Jakubowski to the plate. Knowing that the opposing pitcher didn’t want to fall behind another hitter, Jakubowski sat on a first-pitch fastball, then deposited it 40 feet over the right center fence.

“(Assistant Coach) Jay (Williams) said, ‘Just swing away,’ and I knew he was going to come back with something down the middle because he didn’t want to fall behind again,” Jakubowski said. “He came back with something right down the middle and I just got it.”

West Deptford broke the game open in the late innings, scoring four in the seventh‚ fueled by a two-run double by DeFrank, and three more in the eighth, thanks to a two-run double by Jakubowski and an RBI double by Steven Keane.

“We just came to play today,” Easterling said. “We were all talking around noon about how great this is and how nobody thought we were supposed to be here. We just came to get it done.”

Easterling—who spent some time on West Deptford High School’s varsity team last year as a freshman—set the tone for the game, making a pair of fine defensive plays in left field in the top of the first. He recorded the first out of the game by making a diving catch to his left, then tracked a fly ball back to the warning track before reaching up and snagging the second out.

“I just want to play the best that I can in order to help this team win,” Easterling said.

Easterling is one of the youngest players on the Legion team, and is thankful for the opportunity he has been given. He said the experience of being surrounded by older players will benefit him.

“They are a great bunch of leaders,” he said. “I learned a lot from these guys and it is going to help me in the future.”

West Deptford is back in action against Allentown today at 6 p.m., with a chance at moving beyond the District 4 tournament on the line.