Well before North Bethlehem Little League majors (12U) took the field to play East Side Memorial in the second round of the District 20 all-star tournament, manager Colin Hutchinson knew his players had put their last game behind them.

“I’m glad we came in after that Pennridge beating,” Hutchinson said after North Bethlehem’s 11-1 victory over East Side on June 30 at North Bethlehem. “The boys came together. I knew it at the beginning of practice. I could just tell. I wouldn’t say we were gonna win, but I could just tell there was something about them, the way they warmed up together, the way they hit in the cage together. It said a lot about them, and I was pretty impressed with them.”

After North Bethlehem’s Jayden Brujan scored the game’s first run on a wild pitch, East Side Memorial had back-to-back singles with Kaleb Quinones and Loamy Molina advancing on a throw-in from right field.

North Bethlehem catcher Daniel Hintenoch saved a run when Quinones tried to steal home on a wild pitch and was called out, and North Bethlehem pitcher Eli Miller got out of the inning on two consecutive strikeouts.

“You’ve just got to believe in yourself, and just do it,” Miller said. “The four-seam was really doing it because it was getting in there. You’ve just got to gain it back from the other day.”

North Bethlehem’s bats, along with smart base running, put four more runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by Devin Ortiz’s RBI double to center field.

“It was a fastball. I really just had to get the bat around and make contact and get on base,” Ortiz said. “I stole home and my brother (Jayden) stole home.”

North Bethlehem scored a total of five runs on wild pitches.

“The Ortiz brothers are super smart baseball players. They know exactly what to do, and we have Jacob Bauman who took a nice steal too, and so did Cameron Fredericks,” said Hutchinson. “They’re just smart baseball players.”

Bauman’s bases-loaded triple to center field was the crushing blow for East Side Memorial, who scored its only run in the fourth inning on Geremy Pimentel’s hard hit RBI single to center.

East Side Memorial drew two early walks in the fifth inning before North Bethlehem’s Dalton Sherry took the mound in relief of Miller.

“When I pulled [Eli] out and went to go talk to him at second base, I said, ‘Guys get paid millions of dollars to do what you did today. You had no outs, and you had a guy on second and third, and you got the next three out,’” Hutchinson said. “That’s big time, and that says a lot about a kid.”

Miller went on to deliver at second base, turning a double play with first baseman Devin Ortiz.

“I felt like I kind of blew that zero run, but I got back in the game after that,” said Miller. “It was a short line drive that I picked up, and I tagged the runner who was going to second, and then I made the throw to first, and it was pumping me up from when I got taken out.”

Ortiz also recalled the play that caught him somewhat by surprise.

“It was a little weird how close [Eli] was, so I expected him to throw to second, but he didn’t throw hard because he was close, so it was like a normal play, and I just had to catch the ball,” said Ortiz.

North Bethlehem’s victory was its first all-star win as a District 20 Little League team since Northeast, North Central, and City Line merged with North Bethlehem three years ago.

Also on June 30, Lehigh defeated Hellertown/Lower Saucon, 8-0, setting up a showdown between the city rivals.

“It’s a crosstown rival,” said Hutchinson. “I grew up thinking Lehigh was the big horse that we had to take down all the time, so I’m excited to play them.”