M-W National 12s capture tournament

Monroe - On the strength of a come-from-behind, extra-inning victory, the Monroe-Woodbury Little League National 12s won the first annual Monroe-Warwick-Florida tournament on Aug. 1 at Smith’s Clove Park in Monroe. The Nationals trailed Warwick 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth with two outs and nobody on. Robbie Francese worked a walk, advanced to second on a stolen base, took third on Craig Simon’s infield single and scored the tying run on a wild pitch. James Beyer relieved Robert Bruh, who struck out six in six solid innings, and pitched a scoreless seventh. Niall Croke and James Beyer started the bottom of the seventh with singles, and advanced to second and third with one out. Patrick Gibson walked and on ball four, Niall scampered home with the winning run for Monroe. Bruh was named tournament MVP for three dominant pitching performances in the tournament; he also hit a home run in the final game. Information for this article was provided by Coach Rich Molino.