The Garden City Bombers, a self-sponsored baseball team, utilized their characteristic indomitable spirit and hard work ethic to much success at the Inaugural Memorial Weekend Baseball Tournament held at the newly constructed Baseball Heaven in Yaphank. The tournament's 13-Year-Old Division was well attended by 15 teams from Long Island and other New England States, with the top four teams progressing to the championship series of games.

The Bombers' journey began with an early evening game on Friday when they took on the Levittown Dragons, one of their archrivals from league and tournament play. Behind the gutsy pitching of Mike Mancusi, the team became engaged in a real struggle that found them trailing 3-2 going into their last at-bat.

Will Volz led off the bottom of the seventh with a stand-up triple and when Joey LaCorte took "one for the team" and proceeded to steal second, the stage was set for one of the Bombers' trademark come-from-behind victories. Brandon Saldana didn't disappoint his teammates when he drilled an 0-1 pitch into the right field gap for a walk-off double as both runners scored and the Bombers were on their way.

Saturday morning found the sun shinning brightly and a pesky team from Centerreach as the Bombers' next opponent. Ryan Dowling proved his mettle surviving several threatening situations early in the game before finding his rhythm and ending up only allowing the opposition to dent the plate once.

In the meantime, the Bombers' offense would take advantage of some timely hitting and aggressive base running of Conor Monaghan. The game concluded when Mark Bader quelled a last inning bases-loaded "fire" by retiring the final two Centerreach hitters preserving a 4-1 Bombers' victory.

Sunday's schedule for the Bombers called for a doubleheader. The front end of the twin bill saw Patrick Sylvester take the mound and often overpower a team from New Hampshire and also fielding his position very well. The Bombers broke open a tight game with an eight run fifth highlighted by offensive contributions by DJ Kademus, John Wittman, Matt Rivera and Freddy Stutzmann. The game ended once the Bombers' secured a 10 run lead in the sixth inning and the umpires citing the mercy rule resulting in the Bombers' third consecutive victory by a score of 14-4.

Sunday's second game had the Bombers face another 3-0 team from Bayshore with a berth in the championship round in the balance. The Bombers scored single runs in the first three innings and benefit from a superb pitching performance from Andrew Cauchi who had the opposition off-balance at the plate all game. Supported by the team's finest defensive effort to date, Cauchi tossed a no-hitter facing only 23 batters over the course of the game, which concluded in a 3-0 victory and a second seed for the Bombers in the championship round.

Monday found the Bombers playing against the Three Village Yankees. The game was scoreless going into the fifth when the Yankees exploded for six runs, which was followed by another two runs in the following frame. Trailing 8-1 going into what ended up being their last at bat in the bottom of the sixth, the Bombers' never say-die attitude would resulted in four runs and an opportunity to tie the game with one swing of the bat. But it wasn't meant to be as the game ended up with the Bombers on the short-end of an 8-5 score.

All in all it was a fun and excitement filled week-end at Long Island's newest "mecca" of baseball for the Bombers and their families and friends. The team's manager, Fred Stutzmann, and Coaches Paul Bader, Tom Butler (who along with his son Greg were not able to attend this year's tournament), Joe Cauchi and John Sylvester believe it was an important "stop" in the team's road to a summer Cooperstown tournament.

The Bombers will soon be initiating their fourth year of formal competition, as they will be playing in Long Island's Connie Mack League for 13-year-olds.