Glen Allen 10U team ends exciting summer with third place finish at Cal Ripken World Series
GLEN ALLEN, Va. — The 10U Babe Ruth League All-Stars team of the Glen Allen Youth Athletic Association has had quite an exciting summer. The team started off by winning their District Tournament at Dorey Park back in June, which got them into the State Tournament in Lynnhaven, VA in the first part of July. They then went 5-2, coming out of the consolation bracket, and came in 2nd place (against 8 of the best teams in the state) to get an invitation to the Southeast Regional Tournament in Lawrenceburg, TN in mid-July. Going into the consolation bracket means you have more games to play and have to beat the team in the winner’s bracket twice (double-elimination tournament) – which in and of itself is hard – but with pitching rules, back to back games, and more, it also makes it extremely difficult. But that didn’t stop Glen Allen! They beat Williamsburg – the eventual State Champion, who also went to the World Series, in the first championship game and Williamsburg won in the ‘final’ game.
At regionals, the team went 6-1, AGAIN coming out of the consolation bracket, where they had to win 5 games in 3 days, to be crowned Southeast Regional Champions, which gave us an automatic bid to the World Series in Palm Beach Garden, FL at the beginning of August. Though the boys were beaten up, tired, and had played a ton of baseball, somehow they were able to dig down deep and beat a good North Carolina team twice in the finals that had beat them 3-1 just a few days earlier.
The World Series was an absolute dream and an incredible experience for the boys and their families. They played 4 pool play games, 1 per day, and then the top teams from each pool went into a single-elimination bracket. They were 3-1 coming out of their pool and that got them the #1 seed. They won their first single-elimination game and then ended up getting beat 3-1 by the eventual champion, and very good baseball team, Cherry Hill, NJ in the semi-finals. Glen Allen was 4-2 and took home 3rd place at the World Series, out of the best 20 teams from all over the country, including Hawaii!
The Glen Allen 10U team is made up of 11 boys and 4 coaches. All of the boys play travel ball, with 10 of them with Rockit Sports and 1 with RBA. A majority of this team was also District AND State Champions 2 years ago too and have been together for the last 4 years. The team is incredibly talented, works their tails off, and is a great group of boys that represent themselves, their team, their families, and their organization (Glen Allen Athletic Association) very well.
In the end, the team was 17-5 overall. In 22 games, they only gave up 29 runs! They had 2 no-hitters, a 1-0 game in 8 innings, and even played their first World Series game at 12:45 am, which finished at almost 2 am! They had 2 teammates make the All-Tournament team, and 1 make the All-Defense Team… and they even had one player, Cayden Keller, catch 2 games with a broken foot!
District Champions, State Runner Ups, Southeast Regional Champions, and a 3rd Place World Series Team. Not a bad summer at all.
“In the end, the boys played together, at a high level, for a long time. Every one of the kids played above expectations and stepped up huge when the team needed them too. I was honored and humbled to coach such an incredible group. I love them as if they were my own, every one of them. They gave us everything they had! We didn’t make it easy on ourselves and the “cardiac kids” made for some incredibly tense (and awesome) baseball games, but they now have experiences that they, and I, will NEVER forget.” -Coach Scott Paciocco
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.
