Nottingham, Atlantic Shore to meet for SNJ 13s title
HOPEWELL » As is becoming a recurring theme this summer, a youth baseball team from Hamilton and another from Atlantic Shore will meet in the championship round of the Southern New Jersey 13-Year-Old Babe Ruth Tournament when play resumes at Bacon Field Wednesday.
Rain and prior commitments forced the tournament’s schedule to be adjusted over the weekend, giving teams a couple of unexpected days off.
Beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday,
Nottingham and Atlantic Shore will play for the 13YO Southern New Jersey crown, a week after Hamilton/Northern Burlington and Atlantic Shore played for the 15YO SNJ Babe Ruth title at Switlik Park in Yardville.
The Nottingham 13YOs came through the winners’ bracket, defeating West Windsor-Plainsboro, 7-3, Friday, then Atlantic Shore, 1-0, Saturday to earn what became a three-day break.
The Atlantic Shore 13YOs bookended the Nottingham loss with a pair of wins over host Ewing/ Hopewell — 11-7 Friday, then, 8-4 Monday — to rejoin the locals in today’s championship round.
If Atlantic Shore wins the first game tonight, head coach Mike Gill’s club will force a winner-takeall second game, which is slated to begin a half hour after completion of the first contest at Bacon.
If Nottingham wins just one game, head coach Rich Carabelli’s team will be crowned champions.
A similar scenario befell the 15YO Tournament when Hamilton/Northern Burlington came out of the losers’ bracket and forced the “if necessary” game before Atlantic Shore rallied late in the second game to take the trophy with an 8-3 win.
When the 14YO SNJ Babe Ruth Tournament begins Friday night at Bob DeMeo Field in Hamilton’s Veterans Park, teams from Nottingham and Atlantic Shore will meet in the first round. So it will be interesting to see if this summer’s format can hold, and they too meet in the championship round, which is scheduled to be played next Monday.
The Southern New Jersey championship is the only title these teams will be able to claim in the summer of 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic caused other levels of the Babe Ruth Tournament to be canceled.