Millburn Cruises Past Mendham Under Phenom Talpalar and Bomfim’s 5 RBIs

By Anthony Carrea

MILLBURN, NJ – Mendham kept under estimating Felipe Bomfim and Millburn kept reaping the benefits.

Bomfim hit a triple and a homerun for a total of five RBI, on plays that looked exactly the same. Both blasts were to left field and each time the Mendham outfielder played extremely shallow.

The power hitting catcher gave the fans déjà vu and helped 24-6 Millburn move on to round 1 of the Group 3 Championship against Paramus on Tuesday.

“We’ve just worked and executed on every play and hit the ball hard” said Bomfim.

Millburn didn’t have trouble handling Mendham’s bats either. The freshman David Talpalar pitched a complete game three hit shutout against the once hot Mendham bats that averaged nine runs their last three tournament games.

“My teammates kept making plays behind me” said Talpalar.

The defense turned two double plays, which attributed to Talpalar’s low pitch count of 70. The small number of pitches was why the first year skipper brought him out in the seventh inning despite a 7-0 lead.

The game however did start off as a pitcher’s duel. It stayed scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when Millburn put four runs on the board. They played small ball to manufacture the first two runs of the game until Bomfim cleared the bases.

Mendham on the other hand couldn’t get anything going. They went three up, three down in the second, third and fourth innings as Talpalar seemed to be on cruise control.

“What more can we ask of him? He beat Seton Hall, West Essex and now Mendham” said Bomfim.

Brian Chapman’s decision to call upon Talpalar in critical games seems to be paying off.

This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com

Hackettstown’s Bats Lead the Way,Beating Madison 15-5

By Anthony Carrea

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ – Hackettstown continued their hot hitting against Madison and slugged their way to a 15-5 win. The Tigers have scored 36 runs in their past three games, which is reminiscent of the combined 34 they scored in the first three games of last year’s tournament. They continued to show why they received a number one seed in the North 2 Group 2 bracket.

They were anxious to feast on Madison pitching, scoring six runs in the first. Mark Feci got the first taste with an RBI single to center but James Novembre had his share as well. His two run blast into the hometown fans in right center field made it 6-0.

“The hits were a big deal for us today” said Feci, but pitcher Justin Knight showed that the Tigers can pitch as well.

This article was published on www.thealternativepress.com
After walking the first batter Knight retired nine straight. Leaning on his curveball the crafty righty kept the Madison Dodgers off the board.

Meanwhile the Hackettstown offense continued to have their fun as Matt Reynolds hit a three run shot in the second making it 9-0. The hitting frenzy continued in the third with three RBI singles putting the score at a lofty 12-0.

At this point it was just too many runs for Madison to keep up. They finally got to Knight in the top of the fourth with five runs, including a two run single by Dilan Kluge but it was all for nothing.

Mark Feci finished what he started with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the sixth making it 15-5 and enforcing the ten run rule. He finished the game 3-3 with 3RBI.

Hackettstown will move on to the championship game Friday and looks to get revenge against West Essex who beat them in last year’s tournament.

“The rematch vs. West Essex is what we’ve been practicing all year for” said Hackettstown coach Gary Poyner.

This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com

Mountain Lakes beats Madison in 2nd Half Surge and Moves on to Semis

By Anthony Carrea

MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ – Mountain Lakes grinded out a tough 8-5 win against Madison in the Group 1 Boys lacrosse quarterfinal on Thursday. What started off a close game slowly turned in Mountain Lakes’ favor, as the Lakers exploded in the 4th quarter with four goals.

Two of them came from Tim LaBeau who got the home crowd on their feet with the first score of the game. He then put a cork in the close affair with repeated strikes, which helped the number one seeded Lakers pull away.

“They are a lot better than an eight seed. Their goalie made awesome saves but we got some by him.”

Their goalie is Brett Anton and he had 15 saves for Madison. He held his own against an attacking Mountain Lakes who managed 38 shots on goal.

While the Lakers pressured Anton, Chad Smith did what he could on the other side of the field. He chipped in 2 goals and an assist for the Dodgers in the first half, which ended tied 4-4.

Madison opened the second half with momentum thanks to a goal by Colin McLindan, but then the control shifted. A Madison player slashed a Laker and it was on. Maroon and white jerseys converged at midfield to the smacking sounds of helmets. The refs pulled the teams back to their corners but it was Mountain Lakes who took advantage. Fired up they hit four consecutive goals courtesy of Rob Orazietti, Andrew Portnoy and the star of the day Tim LaBeau.

“Ground balls were huge for us but the game plan was to win face-offs, and in the second half we did a lot better with that” said LaBeau.

Mountain Lakes will take on number five seed West Essex in the semifinals at home this Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com