Lawrence 10s Eliminate Ewing from Little League District Tournament

Editor's Note: The following game highlights were submitted to Lawrenceville Patch by the coaches of the various teams.

The 10 year old Lawrence District All-Star Team won their second game of the Little League District 12 Tournament on Tuesday, defeating Ewing 20-9.

It was not the kind of start to the game that Lawrence was looking for in this elimination game. Ewing jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead as the boys from Lawrence seemed to be back on their heels. The next batter hit a soft flare to right field, and Christopher Nevius charged hard and made a great shoestring catch to end the inning.

Then something incredible happened. It was almost like a scene out of an all-too-predictable movie. When players from Lawrence got into the dugout, instead of hanging their heads they picked each other up and got ready to hit. Lawrence battled back, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the first to cut the Ewing lead in half.

Ewing tacked on one run in the top of the second inning thanks to a homerun by Jay Lawrence. But he was only one of four players to bat in the top half of the inning. Once again, the team in red came to the plate fired up, and by the end of the second inning the score was tied 7-7. It took Nick Ciuffreda just seven pitches to get two groundouts and a strikeout in the top of the third, and the swing in momentum was palpable.

Lawrence sent 18 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third inning, collecting four walks and nine hits – including a triple to the left field foul pole by Jack O’Reilly. By the time the dust settled, it was 20-7 at the end of three.

Lawrence manager Brian Ciuffreda spoke of the team’s character and heart. “Last night [against East Windsor] we let a rough start get to us, and we never recovered from it. Tonight, our players demonstrated the fortitude to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get right back to playing the game the way we know how to play it. Coach O’Reilly, Coach McGuire, and I couldn’t be more proud of how our boys responded tonight.”

Nick Ciuffreda picked up his second win of the tournament, and helped himself at the plate by going 2-for-3 with 4 RBI’s on the night. Alex Everman went 2-for-2 with a walk, 3 RBI’s, 2 walks, and 6 steals. Hans Lillis went 4-for-4, Ben Cohen and Justin Wolf each went 2-for-2 with a walk, and Ean Dauer went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI’s and 5 stolen bases. Garrett Maloney added the offense as he picked up another RBI.

You could almost see the movie credits start to roll as Shea McGuire made a spectacular running catch in centerfield to end the game. The script simply could not have ended any other way.

Lawrence will now travel to the Nottingham Little League complex to face Princeton at 8pm on Wednesday, June 27. The full tournament bracket can be found at njdistrict12.org.