Brick American 16s take third straight district title

Brick American’s 16-year-olds overcame a 10-day layoff and a wet, slow field at Lacey Township hours after Monday’s rains and rallied in the last inning past a determined Manchester, 8-7, for a third straight District 18 championship.

"I understand that’s never been before," said manager Joe Baatz of the three-peat. "The (wet) conditions took away our speed and we got so many walks."

In fact, Sam Sciamerilli on a full count and John Rutowski on a 3-1 pitch walked with the bases loaded to force in the tying and winning runs as Brick American rallied from a 7-5 deficit. Rutowski also made a number of outstanding plays at shortstop behind winning pitcher Greg Geran, who came on in the second inning.

With a well-earned district title in tow, Brick American on Saturday played in the Section 3 tournament at Freehold Township, but fell, 2-0, to drop into the tournament’s loser’s bracket.

They responded by knocking off Spring Lake/Sea Girt later that day, 12-6, to earn a spot in the loser’s bracket semifinals on Sunday. Brick American came out on top of that once too, winning a hard-fought 4-3 contest, and earning a rematch with Freehold in the tournament championships Monday night, needing to beat Freehold twice in order to advance.

However, Baatz knew going into the game that his squad was facing an uphill battle, with a worn out pitching staff facing a dominant offensive team.

"This game has all the makings of a tough contest for our guys," Baatz said prior to the game.

And his fears became a reality as the Freehold squad was dominant in a 10-0, five-inning win.

— Wayne Witkowski