The Manhasset Baseball PAL eight-year-old summer tournament team competed for the Roberto Clemente North Atlantic Championship in Allendale, NJ. The tournament was sponsored by the American Amateur Baseball Congress and provided Manhasset with the most competitive baseball they have seen. The double elimination tournament included Connecticut's state champion, the Cheshire Reds; Pennsylvania state champion, the Lower Bucks Bandits; New Jersey state champion, the Wycoff White; and the New York Federation champion, the Bergen Beach Bobcats. Rounding out this impressive field were the Brooklyn Bonnies, the Midland Park Panthers from New Jersey and the host team, the Allendale Red Hawks. Manhasset qualified as the Metro New York champion after defeating Brooklyn's Our Lady of Grace/Gil Hodges team.

The tournament started with a Wednesday night dinner in Allendale for the players and their families. The dinner and the tournament turned out to be a great experience for the boys and one they will not soon forget. Before the tournament started, manager Jim Smyth and his coaches Larry Belinsky, Anthony Scaramucci and Jerry Amitrano got together to set the goals. The first was that the boys have fun and enjoy the experience and the second was that the team advance into the third round. Advancing to the third round would require winning one of their first two games.

Attaining the second goal became more difficult as Manhasset drew the Lower Bucks Bandits as their Thursday opponent. The Lower Bucks program was the defending champion and came into the tournament with a perfect 33-0 record. Like all the other teams that Manhasset faced in this tournament the Bandits had been together since February and all of their players dedicated their spring and summer to baseball, in contrast with our own team who had only been together for a few weeks. Manhasset played the Bandits tough and at the end of three innings trailed by 3-1. Biagio Marino continued his strong throwing by pitching three strong innings. However, defensive lapses plagued Manhasset during the next three innings and the Bandits went on to win 12-1. "The boys played a gritty game and did not quit," commented manager Smyth. Chris Cook, David Cappellini and Bennett Linsky who all played through injury personified the toughness of this team. Chris played despite getting stitches in his knee Tuesday afternoon, David continued his strong play behind the plate despite a badly banged-up knee and Bennett played through a stiff neck.

With their first round loss behind them the Manhasset team's mission was clear. If it wanted to play on Saturday, it needed to defeat the host team. At Thursday night's team dinner, at the team's hotel, the boys started chanting, "We want to stay." Smyth explained that in order to stay they needed to win on Friday against a team that would have a large contingent of local fans.

The boys all awoke early on Friday understanding what needed to be done in order to return to their hotel for another night of fun and video games. Smyth put the ball in the hands of Drew Belinsky who responded with a three-inning shutout performance. Unlike the day before Manhasset's defense was stellar today. A.J. Robinson's first inning play at second base with the bases loaded set the defensive tone for the game. Manhasset jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a clutch two out hit by James Smyth that scored Harry Kucharczyk and Drew Belinsky. Manhasset kept up the strong defensive effort as David Cappellini made a great play on a bunted ball to get an out and Michael Heenan contributed with outstanding play at second base. Allendale fought back and tied the score at two despite strong pitching by Harry Kucharczyk.

In the bottom of the fourth inning Doug Aaron led off with a base hit and went to second base on a wild throw. He stole third on a wild pitch, which set the stage for Biagio Marino's one out RBI hit that scored Aaron. Manhasset was primed for a big inning as Michael Puntillo followed Biagio with a hit and Anthony Amitrano followed with a walk. The rally ended with a hard line drive to second, which Allendale converted into an inning ending double play. But Manhasset had taken the lead 3-2.

Manhasset played a strong defensive half of the fifth inning as Michael Puntillo made a great catch in left field to thwart an Allendale rally. Manhasset kept the offensive pressure on in the bottom of the inning and had runners on second and third with one out. It was then that one of the more unusual plays in baseball occurred. With Matthew Woop at third and A.J. Scaramucci at bat with two strikes, the pitcher's pitch was behind A.J. The ball hit A.J.'s bat and the umpire yelled foul ball thinking that the ball would bounce foul. Only the ball bounced into fair territory. Matthew smartly took off for home and A.J. headed to first. After much discussion the umpires decided that the play would be redone since he incorrectly called the ball foul. Unfortunately for Manhasset the all-important insurance run was taken off the scoreboard. Allendale ended up getting the next two outs and went into the top of the sixth inning trailing by only one run.

With Manhasset in the field we started the sixth inning with a hit batter and a walk. With runners on first and second and no outs, manager Smyth brought in Biaggio Marino to get the last three outs and preserve the win. Biagio, who some on the team think has ice water in his veins because he is able to stay so cool under pressure, did just that. But not before a great defensive play by catcher Drew Belinsky and third baseman Chris Cook. Biagio threw a ball that got past Drew and went to the backstop. Drew quickly got the ball and threw to Chris at third who applied a quick tag to get the runner out. The combo of Belinsky and Cook almost repeated the feat as Biagio went on to strike out the batter with a runner stealing third, barely beating the throw. With the tying run on third base Biagio went on to strike out the next batter for the save. Manhasset had accomplished its goal of making it to the third round.

Manhasset's third round opponent were the favored and familiar New York Federation champion Bobcats from Bergen Beach. Once again the boys played a gritty game and at the end of three innings Manhasset trailed 7-5. However, the team was felled by defensive lapses and Bergen Beach won and advanced to the semi-final around against the eventual regional champion, the Lower Bucks Bandits.

Manager Smyth told the boys that despite the hurt they were feeling they should be proud of all they achieved. He reminded the boys that they were the first Manhasset baseball team to win a sectional championship and the first to win an out-of-state tournament game. "It was truly a memorable experience for the boys," added Smyth, "from the level of competition to the fun the boys had at the hotel." Many parents attending stated that the entire tournament experience was a success.