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Youth Baseball: Ridgewood team reaches Junior League World Series

RBSA Champs rn-eastchamps
PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA POWERS
 The Ridgewood Raiders U14 baseball team qualified for the Junior League World Series Taylor, Mich. by winning the East Region championship on Aug. 13. FRONT ROW, from left: Garret Thompson, Coleman Clauss, Alex Facini, David Kleiman, Dan Boucher, Avery Scott, Kevin Seitter and Bret Thompson. BACK ROW, from left: Coach Craig Frisina, Ben Geraghty, Mike Breiter, Pat Higgins, coach Marc Favieri, Dylan Black, Brady McSwigan, Sam Favieri and coach Will Seitter. Not pictured: Coach Dave Wang.

AUGUST 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY RON FOX
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Ridgewood Raiders’ bats were quieted only once in five games during their successful run to the USA East Regional U14 championship. They rebounded quickly and emphatically from that one mishap to stamp their tickets to the Junior Baseball World Series in Taylor, Mich. that began Sunday.

It is the first time a Ridgewood team has reached a World Series in any age group since 1979.

The World Series field consists of five U.S. teams, including Ridgewood, and five international squads. The Raiders’ schedule featured Pearl City, Hawaii (West Region champion) on Sunday; Johnson, Iowa (Central) on Tuesday; Weslaco, Texas (Southwest) on Wednesday; and Frederick County National East, Va. (Southeast) on Thursday.

A champion will be crowned this Sunday, provided the weather holds up during the weeklong, double-elimination tournament.

Ridgewood routed Great Valley, the Pennsylvania champ, 8-1, on Aug. 13 to take the East Region title after losing the previous day to the same team, 2-1.

“That was a clean game with great pitching,” Raiders biographer Steve Facini said over the weekend. With head coach Marc Favieri and his assistants off to Michigan for the World Series’ start, Facini served as team spokesman.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/village-fields-1st-world-series-team-since-1979-1.1395992