Freehold Township nine in Senior World Series
Cirillo tosses five-hit shutout in Regional final
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Above, Freehold Township players parade the Senior League Eastern Regional pennant around Union Field at the West Deptford Little League Complex after the 4-0 win over DuBois, Pa., in the championship game Thursday. Anthony Cirillo's (below) complete game shut-out of DuBois led Freehold Township to the title, earning him a hug (left) from his manager, and father, Anthony Cirillo.

Anthony Cirillo had a little extra pop in his fastball in the seventh inning."The adrenaline kicked in," said the Freehold Township Little League Senior League hurler. "I was going to get those final three outs."

Cirillo's Freehold Township nine was leading 4-0 Thursday night entering the top of the seventh against DuBois, the state champion from Pennsylvania, in the Eastern Regional final played on Union Field at the West Deptford Little League Complex. He and his players were three outs from going somewhere they had never been before, the World Series. It was the biggest game of their young careers and the toughest three outs to get.

But with Cirillo getting the last two outs on strikeouts, he and his teammates secured their first World Series appearance with the 4-0 victory. It was the fourth championship won this summer by the all-stars (previously they had captured the District 19, Section III and New Jersey State titles).

"It took a lot of effort from everyone," said Cirillo, who tossed a five-hit complete game. "Every game we just want to win. Everybody plays hard."

Freehold Township, which went 4-0 in West Deptford, took an 18-1 record to Bangor, Maine, this week, site of the Senior League World Series.

In Thursday's final, Freehold Township followed a familiar pattern, jumping on their opponent quickly, coming up with three runs in the bottom of the first.

Cirillo was hit by a pitch and Danny Klinsky followed with a single. Steve Talbott, who was batting .500 in the Regional, delivered an RBI single to get it started. Klinsky and Talbott would come around on a DuBois error, and Cirillo was staked to a 3-0 lead.

"Scoring runs early helps," said Talbott. "It's been everyone hitting and A.C. pitched a great game. Everybody, top to bottom, can hit. I was looking to drive in some runs [tonight].

"It's always a great feeling to win," he added.

To Freehold Township's surprise, that would be it for its usually explosive offense. In getting to the Regional final, they had beaten DuBois, 14-8, Fishkill (N.Y.), 11-1, and Auburn (Mass.), 11-2. But DuBois starter Dante DeSantis managed to keep his team in this game. Freehold Township would score just one more run. That was in the third when Talbott singled and scored on Tom Wojciechowski's RBI double that rolled to the left center field wall.

"He was locating his pitches well," said Talbott, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. He finished the tournament 6-for-11, batting .544.

While DeSantis was doing everything he could to keep his team in the game, Cirillo was keeping the Pennslvania champions off the scoreboard. Based on the eight runs they had scored in losing to Freehold Township in the first game, Cirillo knew he had his work cut out for him.

"They're a really good hitting team," he pointed out. "The plate umpire was giving me the low outside pitch and I kept going there. My change-up really worked well."

Like Tom Glavin, Cirillo kept expanding the strike zone with his outside pitches, and DuBois never adjusted.

When DuBois did get good wood, or rather aluminum, on the ball, right fielder John Kropa came up with two outstanding catches that robbed hitters of extra base hits in the fifth.

"Kropa was great," said manager Anthony Cirillo. "He comes to play every game."

With Cirillo in control on the mound, the final two innings were simply a countdown to Bangor and the World Series.

As 12-year-olds, many of the players on this year's all-star team had won the state title and advanced to the Eastern Regional, where their summer had come to an end, with this being the final chance to get to a World Series. The same thing happened two years ago when they were the host team for the Junior League Eastern Regional. The third time was the charm.

According to manager Cirillo, who has managed the team throughout this team's run, this was top to bottom the best team he has taken to the Regionals.

"Our lineup is deeper one through nine," he said. "Our pitchers throw strikes. They get ahead of hitters."

Freehold Township's hurlers tossed three complete games in the Regional.

Chris Leroy tossed a one-hitter in the five-inning 11-1 win over Fishkill, and Josh Leahy pitched a four-hitter against Auburn. Cirillo made three straight complete games in the final. He made an earlier appearance against DuBois pitching two-thirds of an inning to shut down a rally. He had a 0.00 ERA in the tournament.

Chris Ballester led Freehold Township with six RBIs in the tournament and Wojciechowski had five. Talbott led in runs scored with 11.

When Freehold Township opened the tournament against DuBois (Aug. 4), Bryan Gillis delivered three RBIs; Ballester, Leroy and Shawn Purves each had two. Klinsky, Talbott and Ballester each scored three times.

Against Fishkill (Aug. 6), Wojciechowski was 3-for-3 with four RBIs. Talbott scored three times, and Cirillo was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Leroy and Ballister each had two RBIs in the 11-2 win over Auburn (Aug. 7), Klinsky was 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Talbott scored three times.

This is the third time in the last four years that Freehold Township's Seniors have won the Eastern Regional title in West Deptford. They won back to back in 2004 and 2005. The 2004 team captured the World Series title.

Talbott pointed to Freehold Township's years of playing together with making the difference this summer.

"We've played together so long, since we were 8 and 9," he said. "We really click as a club."

The 2007 Eastern Regional Senior League champions are: Anthony Cirillo, Danny Klinsky, Steve Talbott, Chris Ballester, Tom Wojciechowski, John Kropa, Shawn Purves, Chris Leroy, Bryan Gillis, Josh Leahy, Matt Hohman, Frank Parisi, Gerry Plescia and Greg Lewis. Glen Purves and Doug Leroy are the coaches on manager Anthony Cirillo's staff.

The Senior World Series began Sunday and runs through Saturday. Teams will be divided into two pools of five teams. Every team will play four games with the two teams with the best records from the two pools playing Friday in the semifinals.

Freehold Township couldn't have asked for a better start in the tournament than Sunday's 4-1 win over Vilnius Little League from Lithuania, the European champions.

Leroy mastered the Vilnius lineup, pitching a complete game two-hitter. He fanned three and walked two.

Cirillo, who went 3-for-4, started the game off with a single in the bottom of the first and scored on Klinsky's single, giving Leroy a quick 1-0 advantage.

Freehold Township scored another run in the last of the fourth on Talbott's RBI single, breaking a 1-1 tied.

Cirillo's two RBI double in the fifth gave Leroy a 4-1 lead to work with over the final two innings. Plescia scored twice as a pinch runner for Freehold Township.

Freehold Township was scheduled to play the U.S. Central Regional champions Greater Niles LL from Niles, Mich., on Monday. The Senior League championship game starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday. It will be broadcast live on ESPNU. The game will be tape delayed and broadcast on ESPN2 on Aug. 30 at 2 p.m.