By BILLY THARP
For The Trentonian
HAMILTON - Behind a masterful pitching performance from Chris Cote and a stellar hitting night from Jake Muller, Nottingham's 12-year-old all-stars rolled to a 10-0 win in the Section 3 Winners Bracket Final over North Howell.
Cote allowed only two hits the entire evening and one came in the first when North Howell’s second batter doubled. North Howell would not be able to make anything of it and Cote got out of the inning unscathed.

When Nottingham came up to hit, they had trouble hitting North Howell’s pitcher who was throwing a lot of curve balls and Nottingham could simply not time it up.
Cote allowed his final hit of the evening in the second but once again made sure the runner was stranded. In Nottingham’s half of the inning Jake Muller finally timed up a curveball and hit a monster shot to make it 1-0.
“He had been throwing a bunch of curveballs and finally threw a fastball but threw a curveball again. I was ahead on hit but got lucky,” Muller said.
Cote ran into his only trouble of the night in the third when he walked three consecutive batters to load the bases. Cote remained cool under pressure striking out the next three batters but driving his pitch count up. “The runners on base didn’t matter to me I was only focused on the guys at the plate” Cote said.
Nottingham broke the game open in the fourth as they really began to time up the curveballs they were being served. Nottingham was patient and was able to coax multiple hits and walks into their own bases loaded situation. They scored their first run of the inning on a wild pitch. Muller would follow that with an RBI single to make it 3-0. Chris Harkness provided the big blow when he hit a two run double to put Nottingham up five.
Cote once again cruised in the fourth but finished the inning with a pitch count of 80. With their feet on North Howell’s throat Nottingham could not put their opponents away in the fourth as they only added a single run on a Dom Chiarallo sacrifice fly.
In the fifth Cote got the first out before giving way to Chiarallo. North Howell did not stand a chance against Chiarallo who was simply throwing fastballs and was able to strike out the two batters he faced.
Nottingham would finally reach the 10 run threshold in the fifth as they scored two runs when there were bases loaded walks and a Chiarallo two RBI single put the game away.
For manager Mark Sacco the game was a complete performance.
“The whole team played great Chris was amazing on the mound and Jake really got the team going.”
When it came to his team's slow start hitting Sacco said, “It was all about patience. These kids are playing in the sectional tournament and are eager to do well.”
If Nottingham can stay patient, a trip to the state tournament could be on the way.
North Howell 000 00 - 0
Nottingham 014 14 - 10
WP: Cote. 2B: Harkness. HR: Muller. RBI: Chiarallo 3, Muller 2, Harkness 2, Cote, Coleman.