On an unseasonably warm Sunday night, the B-Neck Bombers 14U travel baseball team played in the semifinal game at Memorial Field in Bergenfield against the Creskill team. Starter Jonah “DJ Nay” Nayowitz began the game off by firing a ruthless barrage of fastballs and mowing down a number of players from the Creskill team in the first two innings. Earlier in the season, the Northern Valley Norsemen baseball team defeated the Bombers on two separate occasions, and this was Bombers’s opportunity to avenge those terrible losses. In the fourth inning with the Bombers up, they were able to scratch out two runs led by an RBI single from Charlie “Diaz” Butler. In Creskill’s turn at-bat, they began unleashing hit after hit. With the help of incredible fielding by the amazing catcher Eitan “Big Poppi” Popowitz, the Bombers were able to tag three players out trying to score at home.
Following a couple of hits from Ezra “Big Man” Krohn and Eitan “Walkman” Goldwasser, the Bombers were able to take a 3-2 lead. However, the following inning unfortunately began where Northern Valley left off, and they began to bombard the Bombers team with hits, steals and runs; and the Bombers’s season came down to one final inning. The Bombers were down 7-3 and time was running out on their season. The players seemed dejected in the dugout until Coach Alan Teller pulled everyone into a huddle and gave a speech that inspired the entire team. He implored each and every one of them to dig deep within themselves and “find the will to win.” With the team inspired they began an inning which will be remembered for the ages. Nayowitz started the inning off by grinding out a walk. It was immediately followed by RBI hits by Butler and Ryan Teller. Zac Nussbaum smacked a single up the middle which scored another run and Popowitz kept the scoring going after lining a two RBI single to left field. The Bombers began to score run after run, topped off with a bases-loaded double to deep center by Nayowoitz to make the score 10-7—an improbable seven-run inning against one of the best teams in the league.
With Northern Valley’s best batters set to come up, the Bombers called in Butler to attempt to close the door on Northern Valley’s season. Butler struck out the first two batters with nasty sliders. The third batter hit a bloop single to center and the fourth batter walked on a very questionable 3-2 curveball. With the Bombers’ season on the line and Northern Valley’s best batter coming up with two men on and two men out, Butler took Coach Teller’s words to heart and gave it his all. He proceeded to throw three straight strikes against one of the best players in the league to end the game. The team jumped on Butler and celebrated one of the most improbable victories in recent 13U baseball memory.
The championship game is Sunday night at Memorial Field.
By Jewish Link Sports Desk
