July 16, 2011
I’m Corey. I'm 16 and I’m going to be a junior in high school. I am currently working on a blog to give highlights from youth games, stats and some player/coach interviews. I grew up playing as much little league baseball, as I could in Borough Park.
This week I was volunteering at the Borough Park snack stand and had to cook 70 hotdogs for the ends of the games, with only one helper. I was still able to keep a pretty good eye on the games, however, and also get some stats from fans.
Most Mendham baseball and softball families have been following the exploits of the Junior Girls who won the District 1 title in the last at bat on Saturday and the 12u Little League boys who won District 1 last week. But there is a group of kids who are pretty unaware of what the older girls and boys are doing, because they are really into their own games. And last week, they were playing their hearts out.
On the upper field the Mendham 8 Year old Americans played Denville. The boys are going into third grade and love the game. As a team their record was 1 and 6 going into the game. I missed the early chapters of the game due to snack stand responsibilities. I started to pay more attention as the game reached its final innings with Mendham down 13 – 11 to Denville. As the final inning came to an end the score was 15 – 11 Denville, bringing the end of a great game. Head Coach Larry Beimforth is really prooud of how the team never quits no matter what the score.
On the lower field, Mendham Nationals were taking on Par Troy East. The kids played great. Timmy Lanahan caught a pop fly when he called off two other players. PJ Ryan and threw a lot of strikes. Rem Powers played a solid shortstop. Zach Proncik had a big hit. Regan O’Donnell caught a solid game. The final score didn’t go our way with the boys losing. But there was lots to celebrate.
As soon as the game was over the snack stand was rushed with kids awaiting free hotdogs and free soda. When I asked one Mendham player about the game’s outcome he said “I’m happy as long as there’s free food!” then took off before I could even get his name.
