Middletown Little League’s 12-year-old all-star team has been crowned the king of New Jersey.
Middletown won the New Jersey state championship on July 30 at Buchmuller Park in Secaucus.
Coach Tim Naughton’s team beat Elmora Youth Little League 4-1, clinching Middletown’s first Little League state title.
The historic victory lifted Middletown into the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in Bristol, Conn. If Middletown wins the regional, it will advance to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Middletown opened regional play on Aug. 6 with a 6-2 victory over Berlin, the Maryland state champion. Middletown was scheduled to play Staten Island, the New York state winner, in the second round on Aug. 8.
Middletown would be the second straight local team to advance to the Little League World Series. Holbrook Little League of Jackson reached the storied tournament in Williamsport last summer.
The Middletown players watched that Holbrook run. They have been watching the Little League World Series for as long as they can remember. And making it would be a dream come true.
“I’ve watched it a lot and if we make it I’ll feel really accomplished and excited,” said Middletown catcher Joey Wall.
“I watched it last year with New Jersey and I never thought I’d be making it a year later,” said Middletown left fielder Matt Sheehan. “It’s crazy.”
“It’s going to be crazy because it’s Middletown’s first time getting this far,” said Middletown centerfielder Jason Quardt.
Sheehan and Quardt are also exceedingly confident that Middletown will make it to Williamsport. They just enjoy being together and really feel like they can accomplish anything.
“I wasn’t really close with these guys before,” Sheehan said. “But now they are my best friends and we have so much chemistry.”
“All these friends have been my friends for a long time, and this isn’t it,” Quardt said. “We are going to make it to the Little League World Series.”
Experience builds confidence, and Middletown has done a lot of winning in recent weeks. But it also faced elimination in the District 19 Tournament in June, losing to Two River East 3-1.
“We all thought we were going to come back because we scored 12 and 13 runs before that, but we just had a bad day,” Sheehan said. “But we worked through it and won.”
Middletown rebounded to beat Freehold Township Little League 4-3 in the losers’ bracket final. Then it won the championship by forfeit and advanced to the Section 3 Tournament, where it again faced elimination after a 1-0 loss to Brick Little League.
Middletown again bounced back, beating Ocean Township Little League 5-1 in the losers’ bracket final and Brick twice, 2-0 and 11-9, in the championship round. Naughton’s squad has not lost since.
When Naughton picked the all-stars in June, from a large pool of 80-90 players, he knew he had a talented team. He even had to pass over all-star caliber players.
But he did not realize how good this team would become. The coach never foresaw this kind of resiliency from a bunch of 12-year-olds.
“It’s a great group of kids. They don’t seem to get rattled. We’ve had a lot of close games, one-run games. They just don’t get rattled,” Naughton said. “When we need comebacks in the later innings, different guys pull through each game. It’s great that they pick each other up.”
Baseball teams win close games with pitching and defense. Middletown is elite in both areas.
“The fielding has been fantastic, and our pitching as well,” Naughton said. “The three or four main pitchers we have have been outstanding. Reid Tully most recently, in the state championship game.”
Tully, throwing three pitches, a fastball, slider and curveball, allowed one run in 5 ⅔ innings in the state championship.
“He shut down a pretty good lineup,” Naughton said.
“I thought Reid was a decent rec pitcher,” Sheehan said. “Now he’s throwing curveballs and striking everybody out.”
But Middletown is not dependent on Tully, or its other top players. The roster is as balanced as a little league roster can be.
“We just have very good hitters and pitchers,” Wall said.
“I knew one through 13 we had one of the strongest lineups in the state,” Naughton said. “Other teams are, you know, one through seven, one through eight. There are a lot of talented kids in Middletown.”
