The Levittown Panthers 12-year-old team tried their luck in a Fourth of July Weekend Wood Bat Tournament, hosted by Glen Cove Junior Baseball Association. Well, wood bats would not deter this team from continuing their winning ways. So far this season they placed first in their Division in the spring season of the National Junior Tournament, advanced to the Championship game in NJBL Memorial Weekend Tournament and advanced to the Championship game in the Fourth of July Wood Bat Championship. Unfortunately, the Panthers ran into a brick wall losing in the Champion Game 4-0 to The Roberto Clemente Baseball Organization from Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The pitching staff was once again dominating which helped the Panthers to outscore their opponents in pool play by a 30-9 margin. Pitching wise the Panthers received a fantastic complete game effort from Anthony Lanzarone and two combined shutouts, one by Matt Christoffersen and Bryan Verbitsky and the other by Anthony Ciaramitaro and Daniel Bartlett. Other strong pitching efforts that can't be overlooked were turned in by Chris Nickel and Jack Garren.

The offensive attack was led by Matt Christoffersen with a .455 batting average, Cody Abramson with a .455 batting average, Jack Garren with a .364 batting average, Anthony Ciaramitaro with a .357 batting average and five RBIs and Bryan Verbitsky with two home runs, seven RBIs and a .333 batting average and George Balsamo with a .312 batting average.

A.J. Mattia, who played numerous positions this weekend, including first base, third base, left, center and right fields, turned in some great defensive plays. Patrick Reilly, who shifted between left field and catcher, also turned in some fine defensive plays along with a .500 on base percentage.

So far this season the Panthers own an 21-7-1 record through 29 games. They have outscored their opponents by a total of 202 runs to 83 runs. The pitching staff has tossed six shutouts thus far. Collectively, the Panthers are batting a very respectable .345 as a team. They also sport three hitters who are hitting over .400. They are: Bryan Verbitsky, .468, Jack Garrren, .460 and Anthony Ciaramitaro, .412.

We are currently off to a 3-0 start in the Glen Cove Mayors Trophy Tournament.

This Panthers team would like to thank Levittown Panthers President Kenny Nizinski for all his help and dedication, not only to our team but to all the Panthers teams. We also want to thank the Panthers Organization for funding that was put forth for us to participate in tournaments.