Whoever invented baseball must have had the New York State Little League Championship Tournament in mind. For four days at the Mineola Little League complex four teams - East Greenbush, Massapequa International, Orchard Park and Rolando Paulino of the Bronx - displayed all the qualities that made American fall in love with baseball.

Those who visited the complex, during those days, witnessed emotion, heart, desire and a love for the game that could only come from the innocence of youth. Whether these boys realized it now, they were forming bonds that will last forever.

Unlike Major League Baseball games, when sometimes we must question the motivation of the players. There is no question as to what motivated these Little Leaguers to play as well as they did - a pure love of the sport and a desire to keep their hopes for an appearance in Williamsport alive.

For each of the players on the four teams, Mineola was a place perhaps foreign to many, but where a childhood memory was born, sure to be cherished for life. Mineola was simply the location where baseball in the state was played for four days.

During this tournament, it was the youngsters who taught lessons of their own on how the game should be played, with sportsmanship and humility and dedication.

Pitching, defense and timely hitting were themes for much of the tournament, a testament to the high quality play exhibited by each of the teams. The four teams represented were truly all-star teams and yet during this tournament, there was a fifth all-star team in the community of Mineola.

The village provided a grand stage for the teams to play, a field manicured to near perfection and, as if rewarded by the hard work put in by village employees and volunteers, the sun smiled down on Mineola for four days.

For weeks, village employees, under the direction of Superintendent of Public Works Tom Rini and Deputy Ron Ciesinski, prepared for the tournament, getting the field up to official Little League specifications and working to make repairs on the Mineola Athletic Association field house. "It was an all-out effort. We all worked like a well oiled machine," Ciesinski said. "We were very proud of what we did."

Village of Mineola Mayor John P. Colbert, understandably, was also proud of the effort put forth by the village and all of the volunteers. "Everybody really pulled together," he said. "They really prided themselves on how we were to look for the state. I think the whole village shined."

While all the volunteers from the Mineola Athletic Association may be too numerous to name, as the coordinator, Ken Weiss deserves much of the credit for the success of the tournament. "It was wonderfully played. The teams themselves and the parents were very supportive," he said.

After the weeks of work, Weiss said it was all worth it. "We've done ourselves proud. It was a great effort by everybody," he said.

Now even though the 2001 New York State Tournament is a memory, it is vivid and pleasant, one in which youngsters from four different areas, different yet very similar, played with all of their youthful enthusiasm and heart for one common goal and the community of Mineola was there to witness it all.