Weston 8U Baseball, Champions

Contributed photo

Weston’s 8U baseball team took to the field at Robinson Lane Park in Wappinger Falls, New York on August 10 and came home with the Greater Hudson Valley Baseball League Division 4 tournament championship.

In the course of the competition the team defeated four higher-seeded teams, and ultimately the highest.

Weston’s parent-coached 8U team consists of Brody Lee, Charlie Reynolds, Christian Bermudez, Christian Kersch, Dylan Benedicto, Harrison Baldwin, Hoyer Koether, Huck Victor, Jack Foley, Juliam Emmerich, Levi Krieger, Levi Rosengarten, Preet Shetty-Hummel, Ryan Bernstein, Sam Witten, Theo Leroi, Vaughn Boksa, and Will Nichols.

16 players on the team are entering third grade this fall, the other two are entering fourth. The team is coached by John Leroi, Geoff Baldwin, Alex Reynolds and Tim Boksa, assisted by Rob Bernstein, David Witten, Jared Kersch, Antonio Benedicto and Evan Foley.

Mr. Leroi said the team has no tryouts or cuts, and that all who wish to play are welcome. Including Weston, the league is made of 50 teams from Fairfield, Litchfield, Bronx, Westchester, Orange, Putnam and Dutchess counties.

The team’s season started slowly, said Mr. Leroi, with many players new to competitive baseball and player-pitched games. But progress was steady, and the team hit its stride as the tournament approached.

Weston’s first round in the tournament was “a nail biter,” as Mr. Leroi put it, a 5-4 win that ended with a bases-loaded strikeout. Weston pitchers threw no-hitters in the next two games, producing 8-0 and 12-0 wins.

With the title on the line in the championship final, Weston pitchers allowed only four hits. The team, solid at the plate and on defense, came out on top with a 7-3 final score.