This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

South Brunswick Post 401 Reaches State Final 8

American Legion squad will now play Brooklawn.

The South Brunswick Post 401 American Legion team has reached the state final 8 for the second year in a row.

The different route they took to the same destination, however, might make a big difference. Post 401 lost its first game in district action last year and then had to battle its way out of the losers bracket, including having to play 27 innings over one exhausting weekend.

"We're in better shape this year with our pitching because we saved a lot of innings," South Brunswick Manager Tony Cosumano noted.

Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As opposed to having to pitch 27 innings on Saturday and Sunday last year, Post 401 only needed to throw 16 innings this past weekend.

"That's a big difference," Cosumano noted.

Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Post 401 put itself in a good position by opening District 2 with an 11-8 win over Skillman (on July 27) and a 15-7 victory over Watchung Hills. Because of rain, the Watchung Hills game was started on Thursday and completed on Friday.

Steve Guarriello pitched six innings and only allowed one run against Skillman. Tyler Paquette had a three-run homer.

Danny Strickland started the Watchung Hills game and worked the first seven innings. Mark Montagna then came on to finish out the win.

South Brunswick lost to Flemington, 8-2, on Saturday. Because two teams from the districts advance on to the Final 8, Post 401 still had a chance to bounce back on Sunday. Post 401 did that with an 8-4 win over Watchung Hills.

"Watchung Hills is a good team, but we were confident we could beat them again," Cosumano said. "We did beat them. Now, we're back in the state final 8."

Brendan McKee pitched a complete game, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth. Post 401 was also up 4-0 going into the last of the sixth before Watchung Hills suddenly tied the game.

"We just played a sloppy inning," Cosumano said. "We gave up a couple of hits and made a couple of errors."

Even so, Cosumano felt pretty confident about the game, which was slated for seven innings. Rain earlier in the week forced all American Legion games on Sunday to be seven innings. Cosumano was confident because he liked the fact Dominic Forcella, Victoro Sorrento and Kevin Mayce were scheduled to bat in the top of the seventh. They all responded with hits, starting the winning rally.

In the bottom of the seventh, McKee closed out the win and secured the spot in the state final 8, which will be held at Mercer County Park.

"I thought he (McKee) deserved a chance to close out the win," Cosumano said. "I was prepared to go to someone else if he got into any trouble, but he deserved the right to start the inning."

Post 401 will open play in the state final 8 against Brooklawn on July 31 at 4 p.m. According to Cosumano, Brooklawn is about as good as it gets in the state.

"To beat them would be something great," Cosumano said. "It all comes down to how your team reacts to playng the really good teams."

South Brunswick is the lone team from the Middlesex County American Legion League to reach the final 8. Piscataway had won the league title by half a game over South Brunswick. South Amboy, the third-place team, had also advanced into district play.

"Making the state final is preferable, but it would have been nice to win the county," Cosumano said. "You always want to win your county and then fight your way through the districts to the final 8. Anything from here on is gravy. You just want to make it to the final 8 and see what happens. You're playing the best teams in the state now. Every game is going to be a very difficult one."

At least South Brunswick Post 401 comes into the final 8 this time with a more rested pitching staff.

Follow Patch on Facebook. 

Visit www.facebook.com/SouthBrunswickPatch and like us. You can also find us on Twitter at twitter.com/SBrunswickPatch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?