Levittown Athletic Club (LAC) hosted their first ever Babe Ruth Softball 12 & under Metro New York State Tournament held at Azalea Road Park on July 9 through to July 11. Hundreds of family, friends, and locals gathered to witness five tough teams throughout N.Y. State. The home town LAC Yankees, H.B.Q.V.B., Pelham Bay Belles, Glen Cove, and the Yonkers Flames faced off for this prestigious championship.

Not only well organized, this tournament was truly fun and exciting to watch. The games were competitive yet were fun for not only the players but for the coaches as well.

With the opening of the tournament, Levittown's LAC Yankees, led by manager Valerie Posillico, and assistant coaches Donna Riggs and Bill Thiessen, wasted no time getting on the board. #10 Danielle Culen led things off with a leadoff walk. A few batters later, Culen was able to score with a clutch RBI single from third baseman/pitcher #2 Jessica Thiessen. Theissen eventually went on to score and so did two other Yankees as the LAC Yankees took the early 4 to 0 lead. Although the Yankees scored four runs to open up the game and had their ace Francesca "Frankie" Posillico on the mound, the Yonkers Flames were able to keep themselves in the game and eventually coming alive to win due to their stellar defense and consistent pitching, which was able to shut down the Yankees for the last five innings. The Flames went on to win their first game of this four day tournament with a come from behind 7 to 4 victory. Although the LAC Yankees lost a game they felt they should have won, they truly had nothing to be ashamed of. Despite the loss, this first year team has proved that despite their lack of chemistry, due to this being their first year together, they still are going to be tough to beat with their strong pitching and relentless offense.

The loss didn't seem to faze the Yankees as they were quick to score 9 runs in the first inning against Glen Cove in this elimination game. The LAC Yankees batted around in the top of the first with their lead off hitter Skidmore going 2 for 2 with a single, double, and 2 RBIs in the first inning. Catcher Jennifer Murphy belted a long three run homerun to secure the Yankees game two 19 to 12 victory which eliminated Glen Cove from the tournament.

With game two of the tournament ending in their favor, the LAC Yankees played their second game of the day against Yonkers Flames. With the game tied 7-7 in the bottom of the six, the LAC Yankees needed to hold Yonkers in order to remain in the tournament. After an error, Yonkers was able to steal second and third. With a runner on third Yonkers bunted to force the runner home which gave them the 8 to 7 lead.

The Pelham Bay Belles went on to defeat H.B.Q.V.B. to rap up Azalea Park's first ever Babe Ruth 12 & under Metro New York State Tournament.

Special thanks goes out to LAC President Joel Bearman, Valerie Posillico, Mr B., Joe and Helen Ronzo, Liz and Doug Rosenthal, and of course the parents for dedicating hours and hours of time to make sure their first tournament ran perfect.