The Levittown Panthers 13-year-old team has just completed an unbelievable baseball season. The team is coached by Manager Troy Verbitsky along with coaches John Bartlett, Bob Nickel and Tony Ciaramitaro. The team's players are Cody Abramson, George Balsamo, Daniel Bartlett, Anthony Ciaramitaro, Matt Christoffersen, Michael Cruz, Joseph Florio, Jack Garren, Anthony Lanzarone, A.J. Mattia, Chris Nickel, Frankie Vanderka and Bryan Verbitsky.

In the opinion of the teams coaching staff, many others can't match the dedication from the players on this Panthers team. They started practicing indoors way back in November of 2004 because they knew the upcoming 2005-baseball season was going to be a tough challenge, especially knowing they were going to be involved in almost 70 games.

The team was coming off a 2004 season in which they went 37-9-1 overall. They won 3 championships, appeared in two other championship games and a semi final playoff appearance in another tournament.

Well, not to be outdone by their past season's accomplishments, the Panthers put together a remarkable 2005 season in which they own a 49-17 overall record. They won the Spring NJBL Championship with an overall 13-1 record. They played their summer league baseball in the NJBL competing in the American Division which is the NJBL's most competitive division and compiled a very impressive 16-7 record. They went to the semi-finals in the Triple Crown Memorial Weekend tournament while qualifying for the Myrtle Beach Nationals and the St. Augustine Florida World Series, which unfortunately they were unable to attend due to other commitments.

The Panthers continued their hot baseball into the RYO 4th of July Tournament out east. With the championship game being played at Dowling College Baseball Stadium, the Panthers would accept nothing less than a championship game appearance. When the team saw the stadium, they became possessed with the thought of playing there.

The Panthers rolled through pool play, cruising into the number 1 seed in the tournament with a 4-0 record. They played their first playoff game against the NPMYAC Raiders winning a nail biter in extra innings 8-7, advancing the team into the championship game. Well, the teams focused had paid off. The stadium was beautiful and the team will never forget playing there. They were involved in another nail biter, but wound up losing 10-8 to the Connecticut Blue Jays.

The Panthers also advanced to the HBQVB Queens Championship game losing to the home team 3-2. The Panthers also earned the number 1 seed in the Glen Cove Mayors Trophy Tournament while winning that championship for the second year in a row.

The team also participated in a Labor Day Weekend Tournament out at Long Island's Baseball Heaven. The Panthers advanced to the semi-finals with a 3-1 record but lost a tough one to the Long Island Lightning Travel Select team.

Through some fine play and hard work the boys earned themselves a nice collection of hardware this year to add to their previous collection.

Although the team's fine play and individual accomplishments have been set to a very high standard, it seems that each year someone steps up to achieve even higher goals.

This year's outstanding hitter was Bryan Verbitsky, who hitting in the teams number 3 spot in the batting order, had an unbelievable .568 batting average while amassing 105 base hits. He had 7 homeruns, 30 doubles and 15 triples to go along with 88 RBIs. The rest of the supporting cast also had outstanding seasons. Anthony Ciaramitaro finished with a .418 batting average and a .537 on base percentage to go along with 56 RBI's in the team's #4 spot. Matt Christoffersen pitched in with a .383 batting average and 49 RBIs. Michael Cruz had a .319 batting average along with 45 RBIs. Chris Nickel bounced back from an off-year last year, rebounding with a .317 batting average to go along with a 392 on base percent. Cody Abramson had an outstanding .431 on base percent while stealing 27 bases while either batting in the 1 or 2 spots in the order. He was also an iron man behind the plate doing the majority of the catching duties. Anthony Lanzarone also batting in the 1 or 2 spot amassed 28 stolen bases while playing exceptional defense at 2nd base. Although A.J. Mattia and Daniel Bartlett did not crack the .300 club this year, they played exceptional defense while finding themselves in the middle of many rallys. Frankie Vanderka also contributed 39 RBIs and a 362 on base percent. Joseph Florio, who was a late addition to the team and played in 13 games, had a .406 batting average along with 10 RBIs.

As a lot of the credit for their great record goes to their hitting, they would not have been able to accomplish what they did without their pitching staff. The pitching staff was led by Daniel Bartlett and Matt Christoffersen. Daniel Bartlett led the team in wins, with an outstanding 10-1 record and a 2.07 ERA. He also added 2 saves while pitching a team leading 81 innings with 52 strikeouts. Daniel was always eager and willing to take the ball and go to the mound. He never once said he could not pitch, even if he had pitched the day before. Matt Christoffersen had another excellent season on the mound with an 8-3 record a 2.58 ERA while throwing 76 innings with 61 strikeouts. Matt probably drew the toughest assignments this year. Jack Garren went undefeated going 5-0 with a 1.40 ERA. George Balsamo went 4-1 with 2 saves and a 2.74 ERA. Frankie Vanderka added 6 wins while going 6-3 with a 2.82 ERA in 67 innings pitched and 59 strikeouts. Anthony Ciaramitaro and Anthony Lanzarone each contributed a 4-2 record to the staff, while Bryan Verbitsky went 3-2 in 29 innings pitched with 31 strikeouts.

The team's success was due to an entire team effort. These boys gave 110 percent effort every game. They were put through a grueling schedule and never complained about dedicating virtually their entire summer to baseball.

Congratulations to all the players on this Panther's team. They truly achieved a great season.