Septak’s pitching leads Nottingham 13s

HOPEWELL » Mikey Septak did what he’d been taught to do.

Like so many other good Nottingham Babe Ruth pitchers have through the years, Septak focused on retiring the batters and let the rest of the game handle itself.

As a result, the right-hander who is heading into his freshman year at Nottingham High tossed a complete-game, 1-0 shutout of Atlantic Shore in the winners’ bracket final of the 13-Year-Old Babe Ruth Southern New Jersey Tournament Saturday at Bacon Field.

Yes, he was facing a tough opponent, and, yes, neither team wanted to give an inch.

But this was no different than other big games in which Septak had played and pitched, especially with HTRBA’s 12YO Little League All-Stars.

“I looked at this as just any other game,” Septak said. “I wanted to go out and throw strikes, and let my fielders handle the rest.”

That they did in this defensive jem, yet Septak had a lot to do with it.

After Atlantic Shore cleanup hitter Jake Lodgek reached third base with two outs in the bottom of the second inning (after a single, a stolen base and a ground out), Septak reached back to whiff Ty Watson.

When errors helped the home team get its first two runners on in the fourth inning, left fielder Owen Gojaniuk made a tough catch, then Nottingham was awarded a double play on an interference call on a grounder to short by Luca Bruno.

With two outs and a runner on second base in the fifth, second baseman Mason Waznis came up with a spinning play to nab leadoff-hitting, opposing pitcher Gavin Cohen.

Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, shortly after Nottingham had taken the lead, Atlantic Shore’s Colin Thompson and Evan Taylor led off with singles. Taylor stole second to give head coach Mike Gill’s squad runners at second and third base with none out.

Making that turn of events seem bigger, Septak and Cohen had only allowed two hits apiece prior to the safeties by Thompson and Taylor.

Septak shook it off and went back to work. He struck out Lodgek, then got Matt Pashley to pop out and Bruno to ground out for a third time.

“The sixth inning was the toughest when they got second and third with no outs,” Septak said. “But as soon as I struck out the next batter, I said, ‘OK. We’re getting out of this.’”

Septak ran into one more problem in the seventh inning when Watson led off with a single. However, after striking out pinch hitter Andrew Gillman, Septak got another pinch hitter, Brady Arena, to hit the ball back to the mound, where the well-taught pitcher started a game-ending double play.

His teammates came up with the game’s only run in the top of the sixth when Antonio Friedman worked a oneout walk off Cohen, then stole second base. Justin Prekop dropped a single into center field that sent Friedman around third base and rolling into home with the winning run.

Cohen (six innings, two hits, five strikeouts) escaped further damage in the sixth, then reliever Thompson did the same in the seventh after giving up a leadoff single to Daniel Leon.

Though head coach Rich Carabelli’s team was limited to three hits (all in the last three innings), Septak threw 77 pitches, scattered five hits, struck out four and did not walk a batter to earn Nottingham a day off and a spot in Monday night’s final round.

Nottingham 0000010—133

Atlantic Shore 000 000 0 — 0 5 0

RBI: Prekop (N).

WP — Septak; LP — Cohen.

EWING/HOPEWELL 8,WW-P 5

After battling Atlantic Shore late Friday night, the host team came back to do the same versus local rival West Windsor-Plainsboro Saturday morning at Bacon Field to stay alive in the losers’ bracket.

For a second day in a row, cleanup-hitting catcher Jake Trupin drove in two runs for Ewing/Hopewell to send head coach Andy Yadamiec’s team on to play Atlantic Shore at noon Sunday in the losers’ bracket final.

“I knew we’d come back,” said Trupin, who saw his team fall behind twice in the game. “We had a rough game Friday night, but we still had a lot left in the tank.”

Trupin, who is going to be a freshman at the Lawrenceville School, helped the host squad take the lead to stay in the fourth inning.

With West Windsor-Plainsboro up, 5-3, after scoring twice in the top of the fourth, Ewing/Hopewell answered when Rex Peters doubled with one out. Peters, who stole two bases on the day, advanced to third on a wild pitch before AJ Yadamiec walked.

John Michael Vlasac grounded out to plate Peters ahead of a single by Trupin, which chased home Yadamiec to tie the game a second time.

Trupin stole second base, then Collin Elam singled him in to give Ewing/ Hopewell a 6-5 lead.

Head coach Jason Petrone’s WW-P club, which had taken a 3-0 lead with a trio of unearned runs in the top of the first (aided by Ben Walden’s RBI single), then pushed ahead on Mike Prete’s tworun double in the fourth, put two men on base with two outs in the top of the fifth against E/H reliever Connor Lane, yet could not tie the game.

From there, Lane limited the visitors to single hits in the sixth and seventh, plus enticed a double play in the final frame to keep the hosts in front.

“We didn’t play our best in the beginning of the game,” said Prete, who is heading into his freshman year at Princeton High. “When we started hitting, we did better. It was fun.”

Prete’s double in the fourth and single in the sixth, and Alex Winters’ singles in the fourth and fifth innings, helped West Windsor-Plainsboro outhit Ewing/ Hopewell, 8-6.

The visitors could not take advantage even though Prete and reliever James Schiavone held the home team hitless for the first three innings. But E/H, which plated three unearned runs of its own in the bottom of the first (with the help of a bases-loaded walk by Aidan Barrett), strung together four hits in the fourth to take the lead.

Ellam, the lone Ewing/Hopewell player with multiple hits, singled again in the sixth, along with Vlasac, to set up two insurance runs.

AJ Yadamiec, who had walked with one out, scored on a wild pitch after Vlasac’s hit. Then Trupin grounded out to drive in Vlasac, who had stolen second base ahead of the wild pitch, for E/H’s final score.

WW-P 3002000—582

Ewing/Hopewell 300 302 x — 8 6 2

2B: Prete (WWP), Peters (EH); RBIs: Prete 2, Walden (WWP), Vlasac, Trupin 2, Elam, Barrett (EH).

WP — Shibik; LP — Carter; S — Lane.