13u Springfield Minutemen are NJASBL Champions

The 13u Springfield Minutemen have had a dream season that culminated with a 3-0 victory over summit to lock up the regular season championship with a 13-1-1 record.

Starting out at 9U this team struggled against the better teams in our area, most of the time, losing many of their games by wide margins. When they turned ten they made a commitment not to repeat that kind of season. They started winter workouts and entered the highest level tournaments possible. Over the course of the last three years they have traveled to play tournaments in Middlesex, Bridgewater, Hillsborough, Aberdeen Maryland, and Myrtle Beach South Carolina.

Coaches and parents say the success was due to a lot of hard work and playing at the highest level of baseball possible for a 13u team.

These young men are ready for the future; from day one, the coaching staff instilled a goal in these boys not to win ball games but to get ready for high school baseball.

Last year all their hard work started to pay dividends. In early spring, the Minutemen played a rigorous schedule mixed in with recreation and Middle School baseball. They finished runner up last Memorial Day in the Westfield Charity Classic against 8 of the top teams in the area. On Father's day, they won the Cerbo, 12U 50-70 State Championship.

When the summer season started, they played only tournament baseball and traveled twice to the Cal Ripken facility in Aberdeen, Md. There they played teams from up and down the east coast finishing with a .500 record. In the middle of the summer, they traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C. where they faced teams from all over the country. Playing 9 games in 7 days they played teams from Arizona, Illinois, Texas and Florida. They won 4 games and competed well in all their losses.

The boys started to realize then that they could compete with anyone. They came back home and finished the 2009 season winning the North Edison Tournament Championship.

In 2010, the boys once again started workouts in January. They all played on the FMG team that finished 10-2 (one of the schools best seasons ever). After the FMG season ended the boys started a rigorous practice schedule to prepare for the upcoming summer season. They were fortunate enough to have The Dayton High school and Union County Coach of the year, Mike Abbate, come out and run a couple of practices with them. Coach Abbate mixed in the Minutemen with his summer legion team and just ran a normal High School practice. These practices helped the boys beyond measure as the boys realized they could keep up with the High School boys who had just won their own conference title.

The 2010 Minutemen season started with a tournament in Bridgewater on Memorial Day weekend. They swept through the tournament going 5-0 and outscoring their opponents 64-20 for their first Championship of the year. Next they played in the New Providence Charity pre-season tournament. They went 4-0 and won their second championship of the season and third in a row. The boys started to get the feeling this would be a special season. They entered the NJASBL knowing it was the best baseball around. It had been a league where the boys never eclipsed the .500 win level. This year was different. They won their first 9 games before a 1-1 tie to two time district champs Scotch Plains. At that point they knew if they won four of their last 5 games they would win the division. Over the course of the next 5 games the pitching and defense took over. The boys went 4-1 outscoring their opponents 40-5; their only blemish a 2-0 loss at the hands of Basking Ridge. This team went into this season with a very short roster 10 players with one alternate. They have played thru injury, sickness and did not take any vacations. They bought into the team first philosophy that Minutemen preaches they have done whatever it takes to get the job done. Everyone has pitched, everyone has played multiple positions. They could not have won without the contributions of every single player on this team. They are a great example of putting team first.

This weekend the boys head into the NJASBL post season and end their Minutemen careers in real style playing in the NEWARK BEARS BLAST, an Invitational Tournament at the Newark Bears Stadium July 31st and August 1st.

These boys are a testament to hard work, dedication and a desire to be the best they can be. We will look forward to them hanging some banners in the Dayton gym that has been their goal since they were nine.

13U Coaching Staff: Head Coach - Joe Esposito, Asst Head Coach: Phil Iuliano

Assistants:, Walter Lashuk, Andy Kimmel, Carmine Forte, Mike DePalma

13U Roster : Michael DePalma, Joe Esposito, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carmine Forte , Mike Iuliano, Chase Kimmel, Andrew Lashuk, Alec Marcantonio, Grant McGregor, Ben Steel, Ricky Strobel

Follow all Minutemen action at WWW.SPRINGFIELDMINUTEMENBB.COM