Brick National All-Stars go deep into postseason tourney BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer Brick National's 10-year-old All- Stars came into the week one victory away from going farther into the postseason than any other team in the league's history. Managed by Jeff O'Neill with coaches Mike Mann, Mark Schirm and Tom Merrill, Brick National went 3-1 in pool play and advanced to the Mid-Atlantic Region semifinals of the Cal Ripken Tournament with an 11-4 victory over Langhorne, Pa. in Troy, N.Y. on Sunday. Brick National's 12-year-old majors All- Stars in 1990 reached the Little League Eastern Regionals but did not win a game there, the farthest advance into the postseason by any Brick National team before the 10s matched it on Sunday. Brick National on Monday morning played Pennsylvania northwest champion Audubon in a 10 a.m. start. In the other bracket, northern New Jersey champion Branchburg took on Bear, Del. The winners came back for the championship on Monday afternoon. "If we keep winning, it's six games in four days but we started three pitchers and used five of them in pool play which is a plus having a large staff," said O'Neill. And the pitchers also supplied timely hitting. Brick National, now 11-1 in the postseason, opened regional pool play with an 11-1 victory over Metro New York from the Bronx, a game stopped after four innings because of the 10-run rule. Steve Schirm pitched a three-hitter and belted a three-run homer in the second inning when Brick National scored five runs. It added another five in the fourth as Nick Chiracello lined a bases-clearing double that ended it. Dan Finelli collected three hits and Schirm had two. Dan Berg scattered four hits over five innings and helped himself with three hits for three RBI as Brick National beat Spring Youth of host Troy, N.Y., 9-3. Berg lined a two-run double in a five-run fifth inning that spotted Brick National a 9-2 lead and Ryan Hawkins and Sean Fahey chipped in run-scoring hits. Jake Scott, Matt Greenberg, Schirm and Chiracello each slugged a run-scoring single. It was followed by Brick National's first loss of the postseason, 11-10, to Bear, Del., which scored the final three runs in the home fifth inning of the seesaw game in which Brick National lost three leads. "Bear is a good hitting team and our pitching got a little thin in that game," O'Neill said. Finelli connected for a bases-clearing double in the top of the fifth inning that spotted Brick National a short-lived 10-8 lead. He had two hits in the game as did Kyle Marino. Schirm drove in two runs. At that point, O'Neill saw the character of his team put to the test. Would it bounce back against Langhorne or go home afterward? "I told the players that now they control their own destiny," said O'Neill in another of his inspiring talks to his team. "If we win, the likelihood is that we'll move on." The players took up the challenge, scoring double-figure runs for the third time in four games as Schirm, who got the win with four innings of relief of starter Berg, belted a three-run homer to right center field in the fifth inning to open up an 11-4 lead. He earlier smacked a two-run single. Jake Scott collected three hits for two RBIs and Finelli hammered two hits for three RBIs. Berg batted in the other run and had two hits. Marino made a diving catch in right field in the fifth inning with a runner on to snuff a threat. It was a closing statement for a team that reliably made the plays in the field behind Schim and Finelli at first base, Berg and Tom Costanza at second base, Greenberg at shortstop, Hawkins and Mike Begovich at third base, Scott at catcher and Chiracello, Fahey, Marino and Brian Lang in the outfield.