(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) caption: POWER BALL: Princeton Little League 12-year-old all star Colin Taylor fires the ball in District 12 playoff competition. Taylor came on in relief last Sunday as Princeton fell 8-6 to Robbinsville. Taylor, who hit a homer in the defeat, exploded for two home runs and four RBIs on Monday as Princeton beat Chambersburg 11-2. Princeton, which also got two homers and four RBIs from catcher Tim Frawley, will wrap up pool play by facing West Windsor on June 29 at Chambersburg with winner advancing to the Final 8.

Princeton Little League 12s Show Resilience; Rebounding From Loss in District 12 Opener

Bill Alden

As the Princeton Little League 12-year-old all star team opened play last Sunday afternoon in the District 12 tournament, the club followed the blueprint that has made it formidable in recent years.

Utilizing the solid pitching of Joaquin Hernandez-Burt and Colin Taylor with Matt Lambert, Tom Pecora, and Taylor sparking the offense, Princeton built a 6-3 lead over Robbinsville heading into the sixth and final inning at Grover Park.

“We were playing our kind of ball,” said manager Matt Frawley, who guided Princeton to a second place last summer in the district’s 11s tournament.

“We were playing good, solid defense and the pitching was great. That is our formula. Our hitting is a little better than last year; we worked hard on getting the guys hitting so we were doing well. Robbinsville had two excellent pitchers; the fact that we were able to get six off the first guy was fantastic.”

Unfortunately for Frawley and his charges, Robbinsville produced a fantastic finish to the contest, scoring five runs on a two-run double and a three-run homer in the top of the sixth to take an 8-6 lead and then retiring Princeton 1-2-3 to hold on for the win.

In Frawley’s view, the loss could prove to be a valuable learning experience for his club.

“Basically, after the guy hit the home run, there were a lot of heads hanging,” said Frawley.

“I just said in baseball, you have to play the whole game. We had a chance to come back; we had good guys up in the order so we had a chance. It’s a hard lesson but you have to always believe up until you get that last out. We got all of those runs in the second on two outs. It’s one game. It would have been great to win; now our backs are to the wall.”

Princeton showed resilience last summer in its run to the title game in the 11-year-old tournament. “We had that bad game against Cranbury-Plainsboro and I didn’t know if we would advance to the final four,” recalled Frawley.

“Then we had that great game against Millstone and things worked our way. We got in there and then had a good run.”

On Monday, Princeton made a similar show of character, topping Chambersburg 11-2 as Taylor and Tim Frawley each hit two homers. Pecora got the win on the mound, striking out eight in five strong innings of work.

As he reflected on Sunday’s setback, Frawley saw a rebound on the horizon.

“The nice thing about this team is that they are really tight,” said Frawley, whose team will wrap up pool play by facing West Windsor on June 29 at Chambersburg with the winner advancing to the Final 8.

“They will go to the swimming pool this afternoon and hang out; they will probably still be bummed. They are a really cohesive group and they will come out tomorrow and play hard.”

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