The Farmingdale Baseball League's 18 and under "A" travel team that plays in the Nassau Babe Ruth League ended their 2000 season in early August as the runner-up team in the County Championship playoff tournament. This was the second year in succession that the team has finished the tournament in the runner-up position. In fact, the team has been in the season ending playoff championships 7 years in a row. No other Babe Ruth team in any division can equal or even come close to this successful run. During this streak Tom Sabellico managed the team for the first 5 years, winning 3 championships, and for the past 2 years the team was managed by George Koch, finishing runner-up both years. The team started play back in May, as a very senior team, as 13 of the players are 18 and playing in their last year of eligibility under the league's banner.

As these 13 players would indeed be playing their last season together, the team set out on its mission to try to win the Varsity Division Babe Ruth County Championship. Although they fell short and finished runner-up, it was still a successful season nonetheless for the boys.

The season opened for the A's in the Triple Crown Memorial Day Weekend Tournament in Port Jefferson. They won only 1 game in the series but used that tournament as a form of spring training for the upcoming season. The Babe Ruth schedule opened with a doubleheader sweep of Massapequa, the first of 4 sweeps during the season. The Dalers whipped Massapequa 5 out of 6 times during the regular season. Other memorable games during the campaign include a 7-2 win over the eventual first place team, Levittown, that was capped off by a 3-run home run by Joe Renna; a brilliant 6 hit, 2-1 victory by Michael Tinney against Jamaica, a 3-0 shutout by Joe Williams over Syosset and a 10-0 whitewash of Syosset by Tinney. The regular season ended with the A's coming in third.

As the playoff series opened, the A's faced the second place finisher, the Jamaica Monarchs, a team who had beaten the Dalers 4 out of 6 games during the regular season. Manager Koch opted to open the playoffs with the team's best pitcher, Tinney, who had 6 wins for the year. Tinney hurled a complete game against Jamaica and the A's came out on top in a 9-8 victory. It was a struggle for Tinney as Jamaica was a good hitting team, but he came up with the right pitch at the right time as he K'd 12. It was a hard-fought win and Farmingdale then advanced to the next round against Massapequa, who had just knocked off first place Levittown 1-0.

In the second round game, it appeared that Farmingdale would cruise into an easy victory with Steve Vasquez pitching a 4-hitter and holding a 7-0 lead when suddenly disaster struck. Massapequa erupted for 5 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, 4 of those runs were unearned due to 2 errors, and blasted 4 more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game away. The A's offense shut down after the fourth inning and their lethargy on both offense and defense led to a disappointing 9-7 loss. The only bright spots for the Dalers were home runs hit by Shawn Pleichart and Tinney.

Levittown managed to defeat Jamaica in their second round game, putting Farmingdale in a do or die situation. Tinney was scheduled to pitch but was injured in the Massapequa game and was unable to play. Brandon Charpied, who hadn't pitched in 3 weeks, was given the ball. Charpied was more than up to the task. The famous major league pitcher Nolan Ryan once said, "one of the beautiful things about baseball is that once in awhile you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something." Charpied indeed proved something as he came away with a stunning 6-4 complete game victory over an outstanding Levittown squad. A single off the bat of John Balcuk drove in the winning runs. The defensive gem of the game was a triple play turned in by Farmingdale in the fourth. With runners on first and second and running on an 0 and 2 count, Charpied struck out the batter, the A's catcher, Joe Booth, rifled a laser to third baseman Williams, who tagged out the runner trying to steal third, and then whipped a quick throw to second baseman Mike Midea, who tagged out the runner from first trying to steal second.

At the championship, with Farmingdale having the daunting but optimistic task of winning 2 games from Massapequa, whom the Dalers handled fairly easily, Vasquez was again handed the ball to try to get that elusive victory that eluded him in the first game against Massapequa. Again the team squelched the potent offense of the Dalers and ended their dream of a county championship. Although Vasquez pitched a complete game, a 16-year-old call up from the Massapequa "B" team, J. Watson, out-pitched him in a hurling 4-hitter as they won the Babe Ruth championship 5-2. The Dalers' dream and their season long mission of a county championship was not to be. In a show of sportsmanship all the Farmingdale players and coaches congratulated the Massapequa team after the game for their great effort. League President Bob Perosio presented the A's with the runner-up trophy, for the second year in a row. The trophy will be displayed in the league's trophy case in the baseball shack.

This was a season of high expectations for the Dalers as this was a team that had played together for the past 4 years. Finishing second is just a singular part of an ongoing fabulous streak of 7 straight playoff appearances by the Farmingdale "A" teams.

The team will be losing the contributions of its 13 seniors, led by Tinney, who has led the team in a batting average the last 2 seasons. This year Tinney batted .448 and won a total of 7 games on the mound. Renna betted in the fifth slot most of the year and was second in RBIs with 27. He also led the team with 4 home runs. Williams was the High School Varsity's first baseman but due to an overabundance of first sackers, Koch moved him to third base. Williams also led the team with an on base percentage of .527. Paul Babinelli was the steady right fielder, batting .314 for the season and leading the team with 17 walks. Sean Ritter platooned in the outfield and was a great pinch hitter. He also had an on-base percentage of .414. Vasquez's ERA for the year was a 3.00. Joe Booth played infield, outfield, or catcher, with an on-base percentage of .348. Balcuk, in this third year, played first and batted .333 for the season. Dustin Cohen played third and won 2 games with timely hits, with an on-base percentage of .439. Seth Shapiro had a great season batting .373. Chris Veracka played all 3 positions in the outfield. Charpied and Pleichart, both returning players, contributed immensely to the team's success in their last eligible season. The 4 players eligible to return next season are Mike Midea, Seth Teitler, Bryan Zachman and Rob Valdini.

Team manager George Koch, Coaches Tony Midea and Greg Koch wish to thank the entire team for their sportsmanship and great effort in a successful season that continued the string of playoffs by the A teams. The coaching staff is forming a fall team in their quest to rebuild the A team for next season. If any player aged 15 and over, who is registered with the league this season, still wants to play, they may contact Koch by email at gk7lk35@aol.com.