Very few kids get to go to even one World Series by the age of 12.
For players on the Marlton Reds 12-year-old team, they’re going to a World Series for the second time.
The 12-year-old Marlton Reds won the Cal Ripken 12-year-old 50/70 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship on Monday afternoon, defeating the Eastern New York state champion Wilton-Saratoga Baseball, 8–2, in the championship game.
This year’s 12-year-old team is mostly the same group of kids who were on the 2014 Cal Ripken 10u World Series championship team.
“This team’s been through a lot,” manager Rob Reynolds said. “We’ve been together as pretty much the same group since we were 8. The good news is we’ve been here before.”
Being a world championship youth baseball team two years ago did not guarantee success for Marlton in 2016. The Reds had to battle through a tough Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament where the team lost two games in pool play. Marlton lost on July 15 to Northwest Pennsylvania state champion Kimberton and to Maryland state champion Mt. Airy on Sunday.
“We did not play well at the beginning of this tournament,” Reynolds said. “We weren’t hitting the ball at all. We weren’t ourselves.”
“We weren’t hitting as well and we weren’t working as a team,” said Aaron Bergstrom, Marlton’s starting pitcher in the championship. “When we started working together as a team and swinging the bats, it came together.”
Marlton’s 2–2 record in pool play was enough to get them into the quarterfinals. Forced to win three straight games Sunday and Monday to win the region, the Reds buckled down. They defeated Delaware champion Piedmont, 5–2, on Sunday evening in the quarterfinals. On Monday morning, they avenged an earlier loss in the tournament when they defeated Kimberton, 10–6 to advance to the championship against Wilton-Saratoga.
In the championship, Marlton fell behind 1–0 early as Wilton-Saratoga got a home run in the top of the first. Bergstrom, the starting pitcher for Marlton, was able to shake it off, however, not allowing Wilton-Saratoga to score a run again until the fifth inning.
“I just knew we were going to score runs later in the game,” Bergstrom said. “I had my self-confidence up.”
Reynolds said the team was able to make adjustments early in the game, allowing Bergstrom to be successful on the mound. Bergstrom was able to induce a lot of weak contact from the Wilton-Saratoga batters in his five innings of work.
“With this team, what we talked about and what we learned is we keep our heads up high when things go bad,” Reynolds said. “That’s what Aaron did.”
Marlton got Bergstrom plenty of run support early on. The Reds scored five runs in the second inning and in the third inning, pulled way ahead on a three-run home run from Chris Bonafiglia to give Marlton a commanding 8–1 lead.
“We were a little nervous,” Bonafiglia said of the team before the game. “But we’ve been in this spot before and we knew we could do good.”
The Marlton players mobbed the field after relief pitcher Blake Morgan quickly finished off the game in the sixth inning and punched the Reds ticket to Aberdeen, Md. for the World Series.
Marlton’s journey at the Cal Ripken World Series will begin on July 29. The Reds will play in the opening game of the tournament at 8 p.m. against Harford County, Md. Marlton will also play the Ohio Valley, Southeast and Pacific Northwest regional champions in pool play.
There is still a long way to go before the Reds can call themselves two-time World Series champions. However, Reynolds believes his team’s experience from two years ago will give them an edge in Aberdeen. For the players, confidence is also high.
“We know we can win it again,” Bonafiglia said.
