Sports
Spartans Win Two Divisions at BCCC Baseball Tournament
The under 9 and under 14 Spartans won their respective championships over the weekend.
Two Paramus baseball teams won at the 2011 Bergen County Charity Classic tournament during Memorial Day weekend. The under 14 Spartans won in their town division and under 9 Spartans won in their club division as a town team.
"This was a total team victory, I am so proud of these boys," said under 14 team manager Dave Ferrara. " Everyone contributed in so many ways to get us here."
The under 14 Spartans beat the Pompton Lakes Cardinals, Ridgewood Rebels, Waldwick Warriors and the Piermont Yankees to get their spot on the championship game against the Chester Vipers, which they won 4-3.
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According to Ferrara, Matt Riebesell was a "work horse" behind the plate, catching every inning in all five games and added his usual solid hitting. Jarred Herrmann went seven innings in game one, with a one hit, 5-0 shutout against Pompton Lakes and returned for the Finals going five strong and letting up no earned runs. Billy Twomey, Garrett Wiedemann, Yuji Yoshida added great performances in the games against Ridgewood, Waldwick and Piermont. Eddie Ghigliotty closed out the semi final game and then returned to close out the title game, ending the game with a bases loaded strikeout.
Also, Matt Ferrara (3-3) and Joey Lentz (2-3) had two RBI’s each driving in all four runs to help Paramus win the championship, coach Ferrara said.
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The under 9 team also had a lot of work to win their championship.
“It was very tough for us, being a town team in a club division,” said under 9 team manager Steven Morin. “All the games were hard fought.”
The under 9 Spartans beat the EBA Eagles, Bayonne, Bergen Warriors, NJ Rocz and WEDC Warriors to win the championship. According to Morin, the semifinal was a particularly close game that came to a climax in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs and one runner on base.
Morin said the coaching staff was very proud of the players.
“They never let up. They stayed calm, cool and collected,” he said. "It was a team effort. Everyone contributed."
The Bergen County Charity Classic is an annual baseball tournament held each Memorial Day weekend to raise money for a variety of causes. This year a total of 248 teams participated and they raised over $100,000.
