Cherry Hill Falls in Northeast Regional Semifinals

It was the kind of game where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

The Cherry Hill Stealers stranded eight runners and committed four errors, while Riverside, RI smashed 14 hits to come away with a 12-2, mercy-rule victory Saturday to put Cherry Hill into the consolation round of the Junior American Legion Northeast Regional.

Riverside struck quick and often, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first and eventually stretching that to 6-0 by the fourth, as Cherry Hill kept getting men on base, but couldn't convert.

The Stealers finally got two runs in the bottom of the fourth on Brent Collins' sacrifice fly and Vinny Guckin's RBI single, but Riverside struck back in the top of the fifth with six runs to put the mercy rule in play.

Four batters later, it was all over for Cherry Hill, which had almost no luck on offense all afternoon.

Though the loss knocks Cherry Hill out of a title shot, the Stealers will still have a chance to claim third in the tournament in a consolation game Sunday morning against either Nashua, NH or South Windsor, CT.

Cherry Hill squeaked out a one-run victory over Fairfield, CT, in the first game of the day, behind Matt Mozzillo's two-RBI single Nick Falcone's infield hit that drove in the winning run.