HAMILTON – As the Nottingham 12-year-old All-Stars began the traditional jog around the field with a District 12 banner, one player tripped over another, four or five guys went down in a heap and they had to regroup and start all over again.
It was shocking. Only because it was the one thing the Sayen Gang didn’t do flawlessly in the entire tournament.
After being off for five days due to rain, Nottingham breezed to the league’s third straight 12-year-old title — and 31st overall — with an impressive 11-3 win over Sunnybrae at Sunnybrae’s Ed Nevius Field. It was also the third straight consecutive district title for this particular group, which won it as 10s and 11s as well.
Which made their clumsy banner trot all the more surprising, since they’ve had so much experience in performing one.
“I don’t know, that was just all over the place,” said 11-year-old stud Austin Marshall, one of several offensive stars. “We didn’t know what to do.”
Marshall added with a wide grin, “I’ll take it. At least we got the W.”
In fact, the little guy is always smiling. On the field, in the dugout. After the game.
“A lot of people say that,” he said. . .with another grin.
Nottingham’s Owen McWhorter, right, reacts after he scored a run by avoiding the tag of Sunnybrae catcher Hank Little, left, in the first inning during the District 12 Little League Baseball championship round on Saturday evening at Ed Nevius Field in Hamilton Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)
The middle infielder had reason to smile after this one, as he went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. Marshall’s bunt squeezed home Brennan Talar in the second to put Nottingham up 2-0, and he helped bust it open for NLL in the fourth when his two-run single made it 5-0.
Asked if it was his idea to bunt, Marshall said, “My coach called it, but I trusted him so I did it.”
In the first two games Marshall distinguished himself with his glove. Offensively he was OK, going 1-for-5 with two RBI before his championship game outburst.
“It wasn’t going my way in the tournament,” he said. “But today it just felt really good working it and stuff.”
It isn’t much work for manager Adam Reymann to watch Marshall play.
“Unbelievable isn’t he?” Reymann said. “There’s nothing he can’t do. Watching him play is like poetry. He’s so smooth it’s amazing.”
Even more amazing is that Marshall felt no pressure playing up a year for the defending champs.
“Nah, I’m just happy to be here playing baseball with my buddies,” he said. “I was confident in myself.”
The entire Nottingham team looked pretty confident throughout the tournament, outscoring three foes 22-9 and out-hitting them 25-10. The biggest outburst came in the clincher as NLL bashed 14 hits and had a four-run fourth and five-run sixth to bust it open.
Nottingham also played another tremendous defensive game, with Matteo Pandolfini making a back-hand play and long throw from shortstop that few could believe. Pandolfini matched Sunnybrae leftfielder Blake Manning for play of the game, as Manning made a diving backhand grab to rob Pandolfini in the first inning.
“The defense is outstanding,” Reymann said. “We practice a lot. We know we’re not gonna usually score a ton of runs but we know our defense is gonna keep us in it.”
Nottingham starting pitcher Elijah Spurlock throws to the plate against Sunnybrae during the District 12 Little League Baseball championship round on Saturday evening at Ed Nevius Field in Hamilton Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)
As is their pitching. Eli Spurlock won his second district game by allowing just one hit and two baserunners while fanning four in four scoreless innings. Nottingham could have gone with a well-rested Pandolfini, who no-hit Sunnybrae last Sunday, but had faith in Spurlock.
“They’re One and One A,” Reymann said. “Either one could go out and dominate. It was Spur’s turn. It was his game. It’s just always nice to have Matteo in your back pocket.
“Spur is always throwing strikes; he’s always around the plate. When he doesn’t have his best stuff you know you’re gonna get a solid game out of him. Today he had his best stuff. You always feel good having him up on the mound.”
Did he feel pressure pitching a game to decide the title?
“A little but I felt mostly confident,” he said. “I was just throwing strikes and letting the defense work. It helped a lot when we got that first run because I knew we would be able to hit too.”
That run came in the top of the first when Owen McWhorter singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Sayen Gang continued to build a lead from there.
“We practice a lot of get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em in,” Reymann said. “We’re not a huge hitting team but today the bats were all over the place.”
Indeed they were, up and down the lineup. McWhorter had two hits, Owen Quirk a hit and run, Gennaro Salzano two hits and two runs, Spurlock a single, double, two runs and an RBI, Brennan Talar a hit, RBI and three runs, Ryan O’Donnell a hit, run and RBI, Jim Dymowski two hits and an RBI and Ryan O’Conner a hit and RBI.
Sunnybrae got its first run in 11 innings against Nottingham when Declan Sweeney hit just the second homer of the tournament in the fifth, and Owen DeMassey added a two-run double in the sixth.
Sunnybrae’s Declan Sweeney, right, slaps hands with Nottingham third baseman Owen McWhorter, left, as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning during the District 12 Little League Baseball championship round on Saturday evening at Ed Nevius Field in Hamilton Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)
But it wasn’t enough as Nottingham played like a team on a mission.
“We felt confident,” Spurlock said. “It felt like we would do it.”
It’s all going right for Nottingham as it prepares to host District 19 champion Lincroft in Friday’s Section 3 Tournament opener at 7 p.m.
“Right now it is, absolutely,” Reymann said. “It feels good.”
Nottingham is going for its first 12-year-old Section 3 title since 2012.
“We’re ready,” Reymann said.
“I feel like we can go far, we just have to be confident and work,” Spurlock said. “We showed what we can do.”
And besides, they would really like to redeem themselves with a better banner run.
Nottingham (3-0) 110 405 – 11 14 1
Sunnybrae (2-2) 000 012 – 3 5 1
WP: Spurlock (2-0). LP: Pieszchala. 2B: N-Spurlock. S-DeMassey. HR: S-Sweeney. RBI: N-Spurlock, Reymann, Talar, Marshall, O’Donnell, Dymowski, O’Conner. S-DeMassey 2, Sweeney.
Originally Published: July 5, 2025 at 8:48 PM EDT