By Katrina Grant
The 9-and-under Seneca War Eagles baseball team finished off its season with a victory, beating 10 other teams for the championship. The team competed in the 2011 Southern Grand Slam Tournament held in Manahawkin, clinching its championship with a win against the North Howell Bombers.
“A lot of the teams were asking where we were from in the beginning of the tournament,” Mark Jasinski, head coach said. “By the end of the tournament, they knew where we were from.”
This is the first year that the War Eagles had a 9-year old team. The team started doing its indoor workouts in February at the Pinelands Center, building skills on batting, hitting, fielding and other essentials. In March, they held tryouts.
“We played in about 21 games and a couple tournaments, and then the boys went their separate ways to play in the local leagues,” Jasinski said. “We won 11 games and lost 10.”
Around the fourth of July, the boys called the coach asking to get the team together again and play in a tournament. Jasinski found the 2011 Southern Grand Slam Tournament and entered it.
“There were 10 teams in the tournament,” Jasinski said. “Seven were from New Jersey, and three were from the New York, Long Island area.
The teams had to play in six games in the tournament. The Seneca War Eagles played in one game on Friday, which they won. On Saturday they played two games against the North Howell Bombers, both of which they lost. On Sunday they played three games, one of which was the championship game against the North Howell Bombers.
“It was the last out, runners on second and third,” Jasinski said. “We pitched and struck out their number three hitter to win the game. It was pretty exciting. We were playing against some kids that were six inches taller, 20 pounds heavier than us. We have no big bombers on our team. We just continued to hit the ball and pitched strong.”
