Photo and Story by Jim Franco
GUILDERLAND – The 8-10-year-old Baldwinsville Little League team was eliminated from the state tournament on Tuesday, July 25, but not before becoming the first team in town history to win a game at that level.
The squad crushed Massapequa 16-6 in the first round on Saturday, July 22, and then lost to Great Kills out of Staten Island 18-10 a day later.
“We came in and won the first game and the kids were excited and we played really well,” said coach Dennis Wellman. “In our second game we had a couple goof-ball errors and we ran out of some extra pitching we could have used but the kids, it didn’t bother them. We had a lot of fun and we moved on.”
On Tuesday, playing in the losers bracket of the double elimination tournament at Keenholts Park in Guilderland, a town outside of Albany, they got beat 12-0 by Haverstraw, a team from near West Point. The game started on July 24 but was rain-delayed until July 25.
“This is something they’ll remember forever,” Wellman said. “When they are dads, they will come back and see themselves on a board in B’Ville with their name up there as the first team to ever come to the state tournament and get a win.”
“We are just a small town group of kids who played some great baseball.”
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