American 10-year-olds flexing their muscles

Chuck McGinniss could not ask for a better situation than the one he’s in managing the Brick American 10-year-old All-Stars this summer.

“I couldn’t ask for more than what I’ve got,” said McGinniss, whose team is virtually certain of advancing out of pool play after beating Toms River East National, 5-0, Toms River East American, 11-1 and Toms River National, 3-0, over the weekend. “It’s a long time since I’ve seen a team like this in a tournament. They’ve shown great character allowing one run in three games. They’ve made enough errors to show they’re not perfect but they’ve allowed only three guys to third base in these three games.”

Tom Howell scattered three Toms River East National hits over five innings in the opener, striking out six and walking one. Kyle Skoog hammered a triple and a single.

Against Toms River East American, left-hander Dean Maldonado came on in relief in the first inning and pitched four hitless innings. He struck out four and walked three while throwing only 56 pitches, despite four errors committed by his team.

A seven-run fifth inning broke it open, with Brian Cottrell starting the rally with a run-scoring double and Skoog lashing a run-scoring single that ended the game by the 10-run rule.

Although Toms River National pitcher Karl Bloom repeatedly pitched out of trouble, Brick American finally struck for its runs in the fifth inning. Brian Pintinics slapped a two-run single after Stephen Scaturro singled and Howell walked. Maldonado then grounded into a fielder’s choice but an error on the play let in Pintinics with the final run.

“That’s our story — aggressive base-running. We’re pretty certain we’ll advance (out of round robin) with this win,” said McGinniss, whose team played at home last night against Barnegat.

Howell allowed only one hit over the five innings he pitched, striking out seven and not walking a batter while throwing 68 pitches. Skoog finished.

— Wayne Witkowski