Raiders capture district crown, prepare for states

The North Brunswick Raiders 11-year-old travel baseball team won the District 9 Cal Ripken championship with a 6-5 win over South Plainfield Sunday in East Brunswick.

With the win, North Brunswick advanced to the state tournament, which will begin July 21 in South Plainfield.

Chris Iocca's two-run double with two out in the sixth inning knocked in the tying and winning runs. North Brunswick's first four runs came in the second inning when Billy DeMato and Liam McGeary doubled, Zachary Pinales walked, Nick Lupo and Daryl Smith singled, and Harrison Kaye doubled.

"Our kids are very good baseball players, but more than that, they have a lot of heart," Raiders manager Andy Kaye said. "They never give up. We were down to our last strike, but all of us still felt we were going to win."

Sunday's win was North Brunswick's fifth straight in district play. The Raiders beat East Brunswick (3-0), Monroe (8-2) and Edison (7-5) in round-robin play before knocking out Colonia (12-4) in the semifinals. Against Colonia, North Brunswick took the lead for good in the first inning when Michael Lee led off with an eight-pitch walk and eventually scored on a single by Iocca.

The win over two-time defending champion East Brunswick set the tone for the entire tournament. Iocca pitched a three-hit shutout, and second baseman Dom Scialabba made a backhand grab of a hard ground ball with two runners on to end East Brunswick's lone threat in the game.

"After that win, our kids understood that they could beat anyone," Kaye said.

"We lost to East Brunswick, 22-2, in districts last year but we played a competitive game against them in the spring (losing 14-11). The key this time was that we made no errors in the field, which is unusual for kids this age, no matter how good they are."

Joe Manley was the winning pitcher in the Raiders' next four games, earning the victory as the starter against Monroe and Colonia and in relief against Edison and South Plainfield. Kaye recorded the save in the last two wins.

The team includes: Billy DeMato, Chris Iocca, Harrison Kaye, Michael Lee, Nick Lupo, Joe Manley, Liam McGeary, Zachary Pinales, Dominick Scialabba and Daryl Smith. All will be students at Linwood Middle School in the fall.

The tournament coaching staff includes Bill DeMato, Joe Manley and Damian Scialabba.