Dover Junior Little League state champs stun Cape

The state title of Junior Little League baseball was just an out away in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday night, July 29, in Camden as Cape pitcher Jon Warren faced Dover power hitter Nick Spadafino with a 4-2 lead. Kyle Mace was on base after a first-pitch single. Warren had struck out the previous two batters.

And then with static electricity flickering in the sky behind home plate, Spadafino went “Thunder Dome” and launched a bolt of baseball lightning way over the centerfield fence, tying the game at four.

Dover came back to win the game 5-4 in the bottom of the 10th after Cape couldn’t push a run home in its half of the inning with runners on second and third and only one out.

Dover moves on to the Eastern Regional Junior League Tournament which begins in Freehold, N.J., Friday, Aug. 6.

Cape had tied the game at 2 in the top of the seventh inning on a suicide squeeze with Brandon Keller bunting the ball fair as Kai Vitella crossed home plate.

Cape took the lead in the top of the ninth on back-to-back singles by Tyler Clendaniel and Kai Vitella, and a ground ball to the right side of the infield put runners on second and third.

Griffin Kammerer and Hunter Engel each stroked two-out RBI singles for the 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the ninth. Kammerer had pitched the first six innings before running out of pitches and yielding to Jon Warren.

Bob Haddick of Dover hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning that tipped the glove of Jon Warren, then bounced on the rubber railing of the centerfield fence and into the tailgaters section.