SUNNYBRAE cont. from Page 1 was the key to the title. It was the winner’s bracket final and both teams had won their first two contests. The victor would get two days off, a chance to preserve pitching, and only had to win one more game. The loser would have to win three straight. Surprisingly, Robbinsville touched Brae ace Quino Gutierrez for three runs in the first three innings. Jonathan Posivak entered and pitched 2.1 scoreless frames to give his team a chance to rally. “I had a big job, I had to contribute to my team,” Posivak said. Sunnybrae took advantage of Posivak’s work. In the fourth, Dominick DeFrancis walked and Gutierrez singled. Things looked bleak when the next two batters were retired, but Cullen Bressler walked to load the bases and DeFrancis and Gutierrez both scored on wild pitches. Still trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Gutierrez drew a leadoff walk, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Ditta’s ground out. Two walks later, JJ Bucchianico delivered the game-winning single. “Everyone was down in the second inning,” Posivak said. “We started getting hits and just racked up the runs and JJ hit the walk-off and everybody went crazy.” DeFrancis felt the triumph was the key to the title. “Winning that was huge,” the centerfielder said. “We didn’t want to put ourselves in the losers bracket because we would have to pitch people every day.
Coach Rob Riley lefts the Little League District 12 trophy with the Sunnybrae Little League team. (Photo by Rich Fisher.) Robbinsville had almost no pitching (in the championship game).” Ditta added, “That was a big win; probably the biggest win we ever had.” “Robbinsville played the winner’s bracket game perfect and just didn’t win the game,” Riley said. “They
burned Yabo (pitcher Gavin Yablonowitz) hoping to get to (the championship) game and they would have had more pitching. “We knew the only pitcher they had (for the championship game) was (Gavin) Hopkins. We went up there
and we were gonna make him throw strikes. We were gonna make him beat us. If he beats us, he beats us. If not, we’re gonna run his pitch count up. We get walks, Jonathan comes up with a timely hit (a two-run single) and we take advantage on the bases.” Riley came back with Gutierrez — who threw a 4-inning perfect game against Nottingham in the district opener — in the title game and he bounced back from his previous subpar outing against Robbinsville. Gutierrez responded with 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and four runs while striking out 10. Yablonowitz was his biggest problem as the slugger belted two home runs, but the right-hander was masterful against the rest of the lineup. Gutierrez said was the difference from his first start against Robbinsville was that “I threw more strikes.” Catcher Joey Riley confirmed that, saying, “He threw strikes. He hit his spots. It’s hard to hit him when he’s pin-pointing his spots.” Posivak, who got the final out, said Gutierrez was “Amazing. There’s no other word. He did a great job.” Asked how it felt to be the winning pitcher in a historic game, Quino said, “It’s a big deal. It’s the first one. We’re a hard team to beat, you have to beat 13 people.” That was evident by the offensive attack in the title game. Riley, Posivak, Ricky Bender, Ditta, Raffa Tramo and Bucchianico all scored runs, while Posivak, DeFrancis, Bressler and See SUNNYBRAE, Page 17
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