Mountainside Green Machine 12U District Champs
Submitted by Andrew Adornato
The Mountainside Green Machine went a perfect 6-0 and captured the Cal Ripken District 12u title on Saturday, June 26.
The Green Machine, which consists of kids from both Mountainside and Berkeley Heights, dominated the competition as they scored 68 runs and gave up 11 in 6 games. Mountainside defeated Millburn, Westfield, Chatham and South Orange-Maplewood in pool play. They then went on to the semi-finals to defeat Summit by a score of 12 to 5. They took down the championship by beating Cranford 11 to 1 in the finals. The offense was propelled by Jackson “Drago” Crimaldi and Michael Basile as they each hit 3 home runs and drove in 25 RBI with Michael leading the team with 15 and Jackson with 9. Speedy Reid Bazydlo led the team with an impressive team high 17 stolen bases and hit .500 for the tourney. Owen Keough and Addison Adornato also stole a combined 16 bases and hit .400 for the tournament, while also playing stellar defense. As a team, the Green Machine hit and amazing .427 for the tournament.
In the semi-final game against Summit, Mountainside got off to a slow start, making a few errors and found themselves in a hole, 4-0 after 3 innings. In the bottom of the 3rd innings, Owen Keough, Tyler Kanarek and Ryan Lamera took control of the offense with 3 doubles off the fence to get the offense going. Mateo Liloia and Reid Bazydlo pitched against Summit and gave up 0 earned runs as they each threw 3 innings each. Mountainside then poured on 10 runs in the inning and never looked back. Lamera and Kanarek hit .333 for the tourney and scored 10 runs and played solid defense in the outfield. Michael Donahue, Tyce Hanratty, and Jack Samuelson all had multiple hits and provided solid defense when called upon throughout the tournament.
Along with averaging over 11 runs a game, pitching, catching, and defense were the keys to victory. Michael Basile was the anchor for this team behind the plate, framing strikes, blocking balls when needed, and threw out 6 base runners. The pitching was led by Matthew Filiaci, Reid Bazydlo and Mateo Liloia. They pitched a combined 25 innings without giving up a run. Filiaci pitched 11 innings, including 4 in the finals, striking out 18 and giving up 0 earned runs. Filiaci added 3 key rbi in the finals against Cranford to help his team to victory. CJ Cantagallo had a huge 2 rbi bunt for base hit in the finals to help lead the offense. Reid Bazydlo pitched 9 innings in the tournament, striking out 14 and did not give up an earned run. Reid also closed out both the semi-final and final game. Mateo Liloia pitched 5 innings, including 3 in the semis, 0 earned runs and striking out 5.
Mountainside now moves on to the state tournament in Mount Olive starting July1st to compete for the Northern NJ 12U Cal Ripken state title. Good Luck Green Machine!
