Bordentown fighting for survival in Little League softball field

BRISTOL, Connecticut — The season is on the line Sunday night for the champions of New Jersey's Little League softball tournament.

The Bordentown 12u girls softball team, having claimed the state title, play a team from Swanton, Vermont at 7 p.m. after losing to Fairfield, Connecticut 2-1 on Saturday in first round of the Eastern Division finals.

Manager Mike Cobbie said the team, whose members have been been together for the past five years, were a little down after Saturday's game. Despite the loss the coach was confident they'd bounce back and be ready for Sunday's game. He said it might be a "little wake up" for the team after winning nine games in a row.

"It was zero-zero going into the sixth (final) inning. We scored one and they got two on us at the end," Cobbie said."We out hit them, we played solid D (defense). We just unfortunately hit the ball right to them."

"The girls have worked extremely hard. I think they expected to do well this year. Softball, baseball, you never know, we knew we were going into (the season) with a fighting chance," Cobbie said, praising the team for being very coachable and all good friends with each other.

Cobbie's twin daughters play on the team as well.

The team won the state championship when they were in the 10-year-old division. This year they beat East Windsor and Robbinsville to make it to the first round of the Little League World Series playoffs. They outscored their opponents 76-4.

The Eastern Division championship will be played on Thursday with the winner moving on to the World Series in Portland, Oregon.