Moorestown 10U District Team won the Cal Ripken Experience baseball tournament in Maryland earlier this year, after the event was canceled in 2022 due to bad weather.
“That was just so exciting, finally just to get down there,” said John Heck, a coach along with Mark Romano, Rocky Petrone, Adam Bucci and Mike Iannucci.
“We weren’t really trying to win, we just wanted to have a good time,” said player Johnny Heck IV. “We always want to try to win, but you most likely want to have a good time.”
Thirteen teams from the mid-Atlantic region competed in this year’s Cal Ripken contest, and out of those 13, the top seven teams competed in a single-elimination bracket after two games of pool play.
Moorestown won 20-3 against the second seed ASBA-Broomall All Star Baseball Academy in the quarterfinals, 17-8 against third seed Chester County Bobcats in the semifinals and 16-4 for the championship against the fourth-seeded Keystone State Bombers.
“They (Keystone State Bombers) pitched really good in our first game,” the younger Heck said. “It wasn’t hard to hit, but it was faster than what we normally see. All the town teams, they have good pitchers, but it’s normally a lot slower than most club teams because they throw really fast.”
“When we say ‘club,’ we’re not a club team, we’re just a town team,” noted coach Heck. “It’s a lot harder, and a lot of times when we play these games, we bat our entire lineup; we bat all 12 kids.”
Players on the 10U team included AJ Petrone, Brayden Romano, Dom Bucci, Lucas Iannucci, Sully Mueller, Brady Hannon, Arjun Bodiwala, Luke Walczack, Alexander Polan, Xavier Briggs and Matteo Bodrog. This is the fourth consecutive year the team has played together (since 7U) and been coached by the current staff.
The team has played in dozens of tournaments together, including the Cal Ripken World Series in 2021, two months they took the Southern New Jersey District title.
“That tournament – especially (Cal Ripken Experience) – it was just really special, because every player, out of all 12 of those boys, they all did something that day …” the coach noted. “Either maybe they weren’t having a great day at the plate, but they made a great catch or they threw a guy out at home …
“It was a good experience, and it was a good win.”
Off the field, the Moorestown 10U team gives back to the community by collecting donations for the First Baptist Church of Moorestown’s food pantry and participating in the nonprofit Cathedral Kitchen’s Every Sandwich Counts Campaign.
“Baseball – from 7(U) all the way to 12(U) – it’s a big, huge family, and we do so much together,” the senior Heck pointed out. “ … The boys and the parents, they sacrifice a lot, but it’s because they want to do it and they’re really good.”
Johnny Heck wants his community to know that Moorestown 10U is a special team.
“We all work hard together in school and on the field, and play hard together when we’re not at school or practice and games,” he said. “The best thing about us is that we pick each other up on and off the field.”
“We root for each other and want everyone on the team to have good plays and earn awards.”
