By GEORGE O’GORMAN

gogorman@trentonian.com

HAMILTON – The Nottingham 15-year-old all-stars were hoping to be off today before resuming their run through the elimination bracket of the Southern New Jersey Babe Ruth state tournament.

Instead the host squad will have to be back at DeMeo Field by 4:30 p.m. to continue their game with Brick American that was suspended after six innings last night because of a curfew situation at Veterans Park.

Nottingham held a 6-5 lead when play was halted at 11:15 p.m. last night rather than start another inning which would have been stopped when the lights were scheduled to turn off automatically at 11:30 p.m.

Fearing that they could not complete the seventh inning which had to go the distance since Brick was the home team, tournament director Harry DeBonis, the Babe Ruth official on site, told the teams the game would be suspended and resumed today.

It was because of safety situation because once the lights shut DeMeo was in total darkness. The lights shut off exactly on schedule.

“I remember being here one night during the season when the lights shut off in the middle of a pitch,” Nottingham manager Mark Peroni recalled.

When the Nottingham/Brick game is resumed it will kickoff a busy night at DeMeo. Northern Burlington is scheduled to take on its District Five rival Gibbsboro/Voorhees in an elimination game at 5:45 p.m.

Then at 8:15 p.m. unbeaten Hamilton and West Windsor-Plainsboro meet to see which team advances undefeated to Saturday’s championship round.

The completion of the Brick/Nottingham game and later the Hamilton/WW-P contest will both be aired on WRRC ‘The Bronc’ (107.7 FM).

If Nottingham can hold on to its lead it would play the Northern Burlington/GVAA survivor at 7 p.m. tomorrow in another elimination game.

The Nottingham/Brick game didn’t start until 9:15 p.m. because the Northern/WW-P showdown went extra innings before WW-P held on for a 10-7 win. Northern left 20 runners on base, including the bases full in each of the last three innings.

Nottingham had jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings against Brick, as Jake Alu and Mark Peroni singled to start the game and produce a run, before an error on a grounder by pitcher Chris Kline made it 2-0. Steve Loney opened the second with a single, advanced on two wild pitches and scored on Matt Tola’s sacrifice.

Hoping to rebound from its 3-0 loss on Monday night to rival Hamilton, Nottingham saw Brick tie when Austin Abbott singled in two runs and scored on Cory Cathey’s basehit.

Nottingham eventually went up 5-3 when Loney doubled to start the fourth and scored on Tola’s second sacrifice. But Brick got its second  tie when Anthony Assante doubled and came on on Matt Cathey’s basehit. A wild pitch eventually plated Cathey for the 5-5 tie.

Alu walked in the sixth and put Nottingham on top 6-5 when Tola and Peroni followed with back-to-back singles. It took strong relief work from Derek Smith to preserve the lead through the sixth as he struck out the last two batters he faced after two walks following a dropped third strike loaded the bases for Brick and suspended play when the game was stopped wisely rather than risk a ‘blackout’ before the next inning could be completed.

The Brick team isn’t happy it will need to make the 60-minute trip back across Route 195 today to possibly play only one inning.

As much as Nottingham’s 15s enjoy playing they hope to make quick work of today’s suspended game as then get a chance to scout their next SNJ opponent – either GVAA or Northern.