DISTRICT ONE LL TOURNAMENT
Two losses in district finals
leave Denville with 4-2 mark
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DENVILLE - After Denville's 10-year-old Williamsport All-Star team lost its final two games of the District One Little League Baseball Tournament in two totally different ways, Denville manager George Bargfrede took stock of his team's 4-2 record for the tournament and put everything into perspective.
"We were one of only four teams in the original 18-team field to advance to the district final round out of pool play," said Bargfrede. "We got beat by a very good hitting Par-Troy East team and then lost a close one to Randolph West and both teams went on to the championship game.
"I'm very proud of this team and what it did in the tournament."
After winning Pool B with a 4-0 record to qualify for the district finals, Denville lost to Par-Troy East, 18-5, on Saturday, July 2, at Parsippany and then was eliminated from the tournament with a 10-9 loss to Randolph West on Monday, July 5, in a game played at Gardner Field here.
Par-Troy East, which averaged 14 runs a game in wining its three tournament games, went on to beat Randolph West, 15-5, to win the District One 10s championship, finishing tournament play with a 7-0 record.
The loss to Randolph West was particularly disappointing because Denville held a 9-4 lead after four innings of play. Randolph scored three times in the fifth to close the gap to 9-7 and then added another three runs in the sixth to win it.
Denville scored twice in the second inning for a 2-1 lead when Andrew Kispert doubled, Connor Eppel walked and, after Ryan Russo singled in Kispert with the first run and Luke Shea walked to load the bases, David Kaiser drew another walk to force in Eppel with the second run of the inning.
After Randolph regained the lead with a two-run third inning, Denville rallied again and took a 7-3 lead by scoring five times in the bottom of the third inning. Kaiser had the big hit of the inning, a bases-loaded triple that drove in Dylan Lynch, Russo and Shea. Earlier in the inning, Ryan Greenhagen got the rally started with a double, Nick Denucci singled him in and, after Lynch had singled, Denucci scored on an overthrow to set up Kaiser's big hit.
Randolph came back with another run but Denville responded with two runs in the fourth when Greenhagen doubled again, Kispert followed with an RBI single and Eppel tripled to bring Kispert in and give Denville a 9-4 lead.
But Randolph's pitching held the final two innings and Randolph's bats produced the final six runs of the game to escape with the victory.
Kaiser led Denville's 11-hit attack by going 2-for-3 with four RBIs. Greenhagen, Denucci, Kispert and Russo each had two hits and Eppel finished with one.
Against Par-Troy East, Denville fell behind 8-0 in the first inning and never could catch up to hot-hitting team from Parsippany.
Denville's only run-scoring inning came in the fourth inning when the team scored its five runs and left bases loaded.
Kyle Bargfrede got two of Denville's five hits while Greenhagen, Denucci and Russo each had one. Denucci's hit was a homer to open Denville's five-run fourth.
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Denville moves into district final round with 4-0 record
DENVILLE - Denville 10-year-old All-Star manager George Bargfrede and his team knew it had the top spot in the Pool B of the District One 10s Little League Baseball Tournament locked up going into their final pool game, but he still had some work to do in order to get ready for the district finals double-elimination phase of the tournament.
"I had to make sure my pitchers were ready and eligible for the next round," Bargfrede said after his team had beaten Rockaway Township American, 14-4, at Peterson Field in Rockaway Township on Thursday, July 1. "And we wanted to win the game - not so much to be unbeaten but so that we would have to go on with a loss as our last game."
Denville used four pitchers - Dave Kaiser, Kyle Bargfrede, winner Ryan Greenhagen and Ryan Russo - and had to score 12 of its 14 runs in the final two innings in order to win the game and finish pool play with a 4-0 record.
Trailing 4-2 going into the top of the fifth inning, Denville scored three times after two were out to take a one-run (5-4) lead over a Rockaway Township American team that had won but one of three pool games coming into the game.
Denville's fifth-inning rally stared when Bargfrede, the coach's son, got hit with a pitch with two outs. Greenhagen followed with a two-run homer over the center field fence and the score was tied at 4-4. Nick Rupp kept the inning alive with a double, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Nick DeNucci's single.
After Rockaway Township went out in the bottom of the fifth, Denville put together seven hits and two walks for its nine runs.
Erik Gustavson walked and Ryan Russo and Dylan Lynch followed with singles to load the bases. Kaiser singled in two runs; Bargfrede followed with another single for another run; and Ryan Greenhagen doubled in two runs to give him five RBIs on the day.
Nick Rupp drew a walk to reload the bases and Gustavson followed with a two-run single and Russo hammered a home run to right-center for Denville's final two runs of the game.
Greenhagen, the third of four Denville pitchers, got the win for his 1.2 innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Kaiser started and went the first 2.1 innings before giving way to Bargfrede, who pitched one inning before giving way to Greenhagen. Russo closed with a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
Denville moves into the four-team, double-elimination portion of the tournament where the survivor becomes the District One champion.
Denville faces Par-Troy East, which won Pool A with a 4-0 record, in a 1 p.m. game at the Par-Troy East Little League Baseball Complex in Parsippany. The other bracket's first game will be at Freedom Park in Randolph against Pool C winner Randolph West (3-0) and Pool D winner Hanover (3-0) in a 5 p.m. game.
The two winners move on to Mendham's Park Road Field on Monday, July 5, for a 6 p.m. game while the two losers will meet on the same day in another 6 p.m. game at a site that will be determined after the first two games are played.
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Denville captures pool title with 15-5 victory
DENVILLE - The change of days and the change of field didn't make any difference to the Denville 10s All-Star baseball team as Denville defeated Morristown American, 15-5, to clinch the Pool B title in the District One Little League 10s Baseball Tournament in a game played at Ginty Field in Morristown on Wednesday, June 30.
The victory left Denville with a 3-0 record with one game left to play - a Thursday, July 1, 7 p.m. contest against Rockaway Township American at Peterson Field in Rockaway Township. Even if Denville was to lose to RTA, it would be the pool champ since it would have the same 3-1 record as Madison and win the first tie-breaker criteria (head-to-head) since Denville beat Madison, 8-6, on Tuesday, June 29 at Madison (see story below).
The Morristown-at-Denville game had been rained out of its original Monday, June 28, date at Gardner Field in Denville and the field had to be changed because Denville did not have a field available for the Wednesday date.
It didn't matter to the Denville players, however, as they bounced out to an 8-0 lead in their first at-bat and the lead was never threatened as the game was halted after four innings because of the tournament's 10-run mercy rule.
Nick Denucci pitched a complete game, allowing five runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking only one.
Denville got the ball rolling in the first inning when leadoff batter David Kaiser drew a walk, Kyle Bargfrede doubled him to third and Ryan Greenhagen drove in both runners for a 2-0 lead with the game only three batters old.
Nick Rupp followed with a single to score Greenhagen; Denucci then doubled in Rupp and, after Connor Eppel walked and Ryan Russo hit a two-out single to load the bases, Kaiser cleared the bases with a double in his second at bat of the inning and then scored Denville's eighth run of the inning when Bargfrede followed with another double.
Denville added another two runs in the third when Rupp and Denucci singled and each baserunner eventually scored on wild pitches.
Morristown, meanwhile, chipped away at Denucci to pull to within five at 10-5 after going into the bottom of the fourth.
Denville, which had retained home field status even though the game was being played at Morristown, then scored five runs to create the 10-run lead and put an end to the game.
Singles by Greenhagen, Denucci and Eppel accounted for the first run of the inning; Russo walked to load the bases and then Luke Shea and Kaiser also walked to force in the second and third runs; and Bargfrede closed out the scoring and ended the game when he followed with a two-run single that created the final 15-5 score and ended the game.
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Greenhagen's steal of home key in 8-6 win
DENVILLE - The Denville 9-year-old All-Star team broke a 6-6 tie with two runs in the top of the sixth inning and then held on for an 8-6 victory over Madison in a District One Little League Tournament game played at Madison on Tuesday, June 29.
Denville is 2-0 in Pool B with the win while Madison, which had averaged 14 runs a game in winning its first two pool play games, fell to 2-1.
With the scored tied 6-6, Ryan Greenhagen led off the top of the sixth with a triple for Denville and Nick Denucci followed with a walk. Two outs later, Greenhagen was still on third and Denucci had moved up a base to second. Greenhagen alertly stole home as the Madison catcher was returning the ball to his pitcher. Denucci, who had moved to third on the play on the play at the plate on Greenhagen, then added an insurance run when he scored on a wild pitch.
Denville scored twice in the top of the first inning when David Kaiser drew a leadoff walk, Kyle Bargfrede singled and both runners scored when Nick Rupp followed with a double.
Madison went up by one by scoring three times in it half of the first, but Denville came right back to take a 5-3 lead on Kaiser's sacrifice fly and a two-run homer by Andrew Kispert.
Madison scored twice in the bottom of the third to make it 5-5, but Denville regained the lead in the fifth when Kaiser hit a run-scoring double.
Again, Madison retied the score at 6-6 with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to set up Greenhagen's and Denucci's running heroics that produced Denville's 8-6 lead.
Rupp, who pitched 3.1 innings of one-hit, one run ball with seven strikeouts in relief of Eppel, shut down the potent Madison bats in the bottom of the seven to secure the victory for Denville.
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Greenhagen's 5 RBIs lead Denville past Tri-Town
DENVILLE - Ryan Greenhagen drove in five runs in the first inning when the Denville 10-year-old All-Stars overcame a 5-0 deficit to beat Tri-Town, 15-9, in a District One Little League Baseball Tournament Pool B game played at Gardner Field on Saturday, June 26.
After Tri-Town opened the game with a five-run outburst, Denville came right back and batted around to score 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a lead it never lost the rest of the game.
Greehagen finished with five RBIs in two at-bats in the big inning, driving in Denville's first three runs with home run and knocking in the final two runs of the inning with a double. Andrew Kispert also drove in a pair of runs with a double off the outfield fence.
Greenhagen was 2-for-4 with five RBIs for the game; Nick Rupp and Ryan Russo each finished with 3-for-4 days; Kyle Bargfrede was 2-for-4; Kispert was 2-for-2; Luke Shea was 1-for-2 and Kaiser finished 1-for-4 with two runs scored.
Connor Eppel, Nick Denucci, Rupp, Greehagen, Bargfrede and Kaiser shared the pitching chores for Denville with Kaiser finishing the game by working the sixth inning and striking out two Tri-Town batters.
In the other Pool B game played Saturday, Madison beat Morristown-American, 15-13. In games played Friday, June 25, Morristown American beat Rockaway Township American, 11-1; and Madison edged Tri-Town, 13-12.
Denville faces Morristown American on Monday, June 28, in a 7 p.m. game at Gardner Field. Denville closes out its four-game pool-play schedule on the road with games at Madison on Tuesday, June 29, at 6 p.m. and a 7 p.m. game on Thursday, July 1, against Rockaway Township American at Peterson #2 in Rockaway Township.
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Denville 10s to open District One play vs. Tri-Town
DENVILLE - The Denville Little League 10-year-old All-Star baseball team opens play in the District One Tournament on Saturday, June 26, with a 7 p.m. game against Tri-Town at Gardner Field here.
The 10s will be competing in the five-team Pool B portion of the tournament with each of the teams facing the other four pool members once and the top team advancing into a four-team double-elimination competition with the Pool A, C and D winners, a competition that will determine the District One 10-year-old champion.
Morristown American, Rockaway Township American and Madison will be competing with Denville and Tri-Town in Pool B.
Pool A contains Mendham, Par-Troy East, Morristown National, Roxbury American and Wharton. The Pool C teams are Randolph East, Randolph West, Roxbury National and Chester. The teams in Pool D are Par-Troy West, Hanover, Rockaway and Rockaway Township National.
Denville's Pool B schedule:
Saturday, June 26 - Tri-Town at Gardner Field, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 28 - Morristown-American at Gardner Field, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, June 29 - at Madison, Rosedale Field, 6 p.m.
Thursday, July 1 - Rockaway Township American at Peterson Field, 7 p.m.
