WOLVERINES' THRILLING COMEBACK OVERTURNS X-FACTORS 9-8 FOR CERBO SPRING 12U EAST TITLE!!!
On Sunday, June 10th, the West Milford Wolverines 12U Baseball Club scored six runs in their last at-bat to miraculously overtake the X-Factors 9-8 in the Cerbo Spring 12U 50'/70' League Eastern Division championship game at Munson Field in West Milford. The resilient Wolverines never gave up, as they trailed throughout most of the contest but kept finding ways to bounce back.
Steve Cuccio (4-IP, 8-K, 2-H, 2-R), Nick Conlon (3-IP, 2-K, 2-ER), and Jeff Oster (Win, 2-IP, 2-R) manned the hill for the champions.
The Wolverines' offense couldn't get into gear until the fifth frame when E.J. Wiegman walked and stole second base. Greg Tompkins promptly belted a RBI double to leftfield to cut the X-Factor lead to 2-1. Tompkins then capitalized on two wild pitches to tie the game.
In the sixth stanza, Marc Anthony Gonzalez slashed a leadoff single, then took second on a X-Factor throwing error. After Gonzalez moved over to third on a fielder's choice groundout, Matt Ajaj laid down a beautiful RBI squeeze bunt to cut the X-Factors lead to 5-3.
West Milford entered the home half of the eighth inning trailing by five runs. Although things looked bleak, the Wolverines began clawing their way back. Cuccio and Oster stroked consecutive singles. After a pitching change by the X-Factors, Gonzalez produced an RBI groundout to cut the deficit to four runs. Steve Sweigart roped an RBI single to score Oster and cut the X-Factor's lead to 8-5. Ajaj followed with a base hit to put runners on the corners. Nick Monteverdi's suicide squeeze RBI bunt scored Sweigart and cut the gap to 8-6. Conor Labita's RBI single inched the Wolverines closer at 8-7. After Craigie Zeglen walked, Tompkins' infield base hit scored Labita, while Zeglen hustled all the way around to score on a X-Factor overthrow, giving West Milford their only lead of the game at 9-8.
Oster pitched a lights out ninth to close out the thrilling victory for West Milford, advancing them to the Cerbo Spring 12U 50'/70' League championship game against the West Division champs, Roxbury, on June 17th in West Milford.
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