Mid-Monmouth Babe Ruth teams rule state
South Division all-stars repeat as champs
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

The Mid-Monmouth Babe Ruth League left little doubt who the state's dominant program is.

At last week's Babe Ruth League Senior (ages 17-18) State Championships, it was Mid-Monmouth South squaring off against Mid-Monmouth North for the championship, with Bill Ruhl's Mid-Monmouth South stars capturing their second straight state title.

"It's huge without a doubt," Ruhl said of having the two Mid-Monmouth divisions playing for the championship.

"Now we're starting to see [Mid-Monmouth] Babe Ruth at another level," he added.

John Miele, manager of the Mid-Monmouth North squad, said that having both teams in the final was an example of the progress that the league has made.

"Mid-Monmouth has grown so nicely," he said.

Both teams (which encompass Monmouth and Middlesex counties) built their teams the same way, pitching, pitching and more pitching.

"John [Miele, the North's manager] does his homework and so do I," said Ruhl. "Pitching carried us."

Mid-Monmouth South bested Mid-Monmouth North in a pitcher's duel in Wednesday's final in Sparta, 3-0.

Jason Nardi was the big gun for the defending champions. He was great pitching in relief, and his fifth-inning home run gave Mid-Monmouth South a 2-0 lead.

"I can't say enough about him [Nardi]," said Ruhl. "He's the real deal. He played outfield for us, didn't give up a run when he pitched, and was our No. 4 batter. Jason is an all-around player."

Nardi won two games and saved another for the South.

The championship game actually started on Tuesday, July 18, with South's ace Brett Brach on the mound. He pitched two scoreless innings and had faced one batter in the third, when lightning postponed the game until Wednesday night. Although Brach wanted to pitch more, Ruhl only allowed him to finish the third inning and then brought Nardi in. When Brach left, it was 1-0. South had scored in the first on Nardi's sacrifice fly. A double-steal had set the table, putting Dave Schoer on third with less than two outs.

Nardi continued to put goose eggs on the scoreboard, and his home run in the fifth gave him and the team a two-run cushion. The score would make it 3-0 when Schoer stole home on another double-steal.

"It was a great series and it was memorable to repeat," said Ruhl.

North used three pitchers to cool what had been red-hot North bats, starting with Steven Santoro, who started and went the first two innings on Tuesday. When the game was resumed, Mark Fahy and Mike Hohman finished it off.

"We had a nice run," said Miele. "We played a good game. Hats off to them [South]."

As seems to be their wont, the Mid-Monmouth South Babe Ruth All-Stars took the difficult path to the state championship losing their very first game, 3-2, to Iron Area, and falling to the loser's bracket.

"My team likes to play a lot of baseball," said manager Bill Ruhl.

Mid-Monmouth South wasted a Brach one-hitter in its opener, falling to Iron Area (which used to dominate the state tournament), 3-2. Brach fanned 13 in a performance that was talked about throughout the tourney.

Next up for Mid-Monmouth was Burlington, and Nardi tossed four scoreless innings and South's bats finally caught fire. The hottest was Vinny Avilla, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a whopping seven RBIs. Lead-off hitter Damian Csakai was on base all four times.

A rematch with Iron Area (which lost to Mid-Monmouth North) was next for the South Division stars with the winner advancing to the final. Sean Flanagan went three innings and gave up just two runs, but South trailed 2-0 going into the fourth when they struck for five runs. Rob Ruhl, Mike Hennessy, Nick Tutrone, Tom Piscelli and Nardi all had RBIs in the rally. Ruhl and Nardi smacked doubles.

Schoer put the game on ice in the next inning, whacking a grand-slam home run leading to a 10-4 win. In relief, Tutrone got the win.

Randy Elo got the call to start for Mid-Monmouth South against its North Division rivals. The bats remained on fire as South roared to a 9-3 win.

Trailing 3-1 in the fourth, Schoer put South on top with a three-RBI, bases-clearing double. Three more runs would cross the plate as South extended its lead to 7-3.

Frank Mormino and Ruhl added RBI singles in the fifth, producing the final 9-3.

Elo got the win with Nardi closing it out.

"Jason gave us four strong innings," said Ruhl. "His job was to hold them down till the bats came around."

Which is exactly what happened.

Since Mid-Monmouth North had won the winner's bracket in the double-elimination tournament, South had to turnaround and beat them again in order to retain its state title.

The game started on the 18th and was finished Wednesday.

It's on to the Mid-Atlantic Region for Mid-Monmouth South in Cecil, Md. Play starts on Friday.