Exhibiting the talent and teamwork they are known to possess, the North Plainfield 11 & 12 Year-Old All Stars put on stunning offensive and defensive performances this evening to route visiting Ridge 25-5.
Coming on the heels of disappointing losses in their first two games of the season, and after two rigorous practice sessions earlier in the week, the NP All-Stars gave an appreciative Fathers Day crowd a show that will not soon be forgotten.
At the plate, eleven North Plainfield batters hit safely, with nine of them contributing RBIs. Five of the NP batsmen got three or more hits and accounted for fourteen RBIs as the team hit for a stellar .676 batting average on the night. Center fielder Colin Disch led hitters with a perfect game at the plate, going 5-for-5 with a double and a triple and 3 runs batted in. Shortstop Pat Davis went 4-for-5, also with a double and a triple, and he drove five runs across the plate. Catcher Jeff Bassman went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs; extra Hitter Jake Cohan went 3-for-3, driving in two runs with a towering home run; and infielder Tommy Holbrook went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs.
The other run producers were first baseman Brian McFarlane (3 RBIs on a double and a triple), third baseman and reliever Frank Veglatte (2 RBIs on a single and a walk), starting pitcher Michael Medina (1 RBI on a triple), and second baseman Brian Searls (1 RBI on a single).
As impressive as the batting statistics were, the team's defense was at least as spectacular.
Hurler Michael Medina started on the mound and got the win, pitching four fine innings, giving up only three runs on five hits, and striking out two without walking a single batter. Reliever Frank Veglatte had to throw only eight pitches to to retire all six batters he faced in the fifth and sixth innings to cement the victory.
The Ridge batters made contact and hit the ball well all night, but the NP defenders were simply impenetrable as they put on a flawless fielding clinic every inning.
In the first inning with one out, Medina nabbed a hard shot back to the mound that would have easily scored the runner on second. In the second inning, second baseman Holbrook went vertical to his left to snag a hard first-pitch line drive by Ridge's leadoff batter. In the third inning, right fielder Matt Velasquez made a running catch of a long fly ball near the foul line and three batters later fired to third base to nearly throw out a Ridge batter stretching a hit to a triple. In the fourth, first baseman McFarlane made a leaping stab of a line drive to end the inning. In the fifth frame, with one out and a runner on first, second baseman Searls made a backhand stab of a hard line drive and easily doubled the runner out at first with a toss to McFarlane.
In the final inning, three Ridge batters fell to NP gloves. Searls again made a great play, making a lunging backhand stop of a hard grounder and recovering to throw out the runner. On the next pitch, shortstop Davis aggressively fielded a hard hit bouncer and threw across the diamond to the outstretched glove of McFarlane for out number two. And for the final out of the game, center fielder Disch made a leaping catch of a hard line drive.
North Plainfield's next scheduled game is against Chatham at Long Hill (their first game of the Long Hill Tournament) on Thursday, June 20th.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Totals |
| Ridge | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| North Plainfield | 6 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 2 | x | 25 |