The Road to Williamsport Starts Here!

Hello, folks, and welcome back to my blog. Today I’d like to talk about an annual event in Ocean County that has often become a very big deal, the Little League International Tournament. The month long tournament kicks off Sunday with a series of 10 year old games and runs through end of July throughout Ocean County. We host tournament games in Berkeley  on June 30, July 2, July 12 & July 13. Feel free to come by our Moorage Complex & watch some great baseball! (If you do stop by PLEASE, PLEASE obey all parking rules & respect the neighborhood – don’t block driveways & mail boxes & be sure to pick up any litter!) The full schedule can be found at www.berkeleylittleleague.org

Every year at this time, millions of Little League players around the globe begin preparation to play in the world’s largest youth sports tournament; all with the goal of reaching Williamsport, PA, the home of the Little League World Series.

The Little League division if by far the most famous and features players that are mostly 12 years old/ This is the tournament that is featured on ABC & ESPN and garners worldwide attention. What you may not know is that Little League simultaneously runs tournaments for several age groups, including 10, 11, 12 (LL), Juniors (14) & Seniors (16) plus Big League ( 17/18) and several divisions of Girls Softball too. There are World Series for the Junior, Seniors & Big League & softball divisions. The 10s & 11s can advance to the State Champion ship level.

Most of the Little Leagues in Ocean County are in NJ District 18 and include teams from Berkeley, Jackson, Holbrook (part of Jackson), Brick, Toms River, Toms River East, Lakewood, Barnegat, Lacey, Manchester, Beachwood/Pine Beach and new this year, Stafford Little League. Games are hosted by each league through the end of July. The ‘BIG’ game, the Little League Championship, will be played on July 16th with the site to still be determined.

I mentioned in the beginning that the local tournament has often become big news and that is because of District 18’s success over the years, success that dates back the 1970s. In 1978, some might remember, Lakewood Little League captured the World Series title. More you of you certainly remember the 1998 Toms River East American squad that repeated the feat, defeating a team from Japan in a slug fest final. But what you might not know is how many times our local kids came close. Just last year a team from Toms River won the Mid Atlantic division and made it to Williamsport, and in both 1996 & 1999 squads from Toms River East also played in the World Series. And also in the 1970s, a team from TRE ( then known as East Dover LL) also advanced to Williamsport. And the district has also had great success in the other divisions, including Holbrook Little League’s Junior league team of 14 year olds, that recently advanced to the Junior League world series in Michigan.

Our Berkeley Little League, despite being one of the smaller leagues in District 18, has become much more competitive in recent years. Our best finish was our Senior League team two years ago that finished as runner up State Champions, having won both District 18 & NJ Section 3.

Hope to see you at the ball park!

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