Sports
Yankees to Honor Palma Ceia Junior League World Champs on Sunday
The 2011 Junior League World Series champions from South Tampa will be introduced at this Sunday's Phillies-Yankees spring training game at Steinbrenner Field.
Their miraculous run is over, but the impact of the 2011 Palma Ceia Junior League World Champions will be felt for years to come.
This Sunday, the will be honored at the opening ceremony of Sunday's New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies spring training game at 1:05 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field.
"I'm pretty excited myself, but to have those kids go out there with the Yankees and Phillies players, that's amazing," said Jorge Ramirez, former head coach of the junior league champions.
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Ramirez has stepped down after a decade of volunteer service at Palma Ceia Little League. He could not have gone out on a better note.
"You couldn't have written it any better," said Ramirez. "To go through all of those tournaments and win it all; that's something those kids will never forget."
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Many of the athletes from that team have moved on to great starts as freshmen in high school. Most of the kids are zoned for Plant High School. Ryan Ellis, Carter Leslie, Jake Woodford and Ronnie Ramirez all made Plant's varsity roster. Donovan Berry, Zach Rose, Dean Herman and Jake Bak all made Plant's JV squad.
Nicholas Kavouklis made the varsity baseball team at Berkeley Prep, and Cole Gibbs and Trent Wessel made nationally-ranked Jesuit's JV team.
Woodford has already logged 10 innings pitched, second most on Plant team, along with 10 strikeouts. Ramirez has faced 29 batters in his eight innings of work. He has struck out 14, second most on the team, including the first five batters of his high school career.
"The game is faster at this level," said Ramirez. "You'd also better keep that ball low, or they're gonna hit it."
"Everyone's older, you can't just throw it by everyone," said Woodford. "You have to pick your spots."
Life moves on at Palma Ceia Little League, but the hard work and dedication put in by the athletes, coaches and parents will not soon be forgotten.
"The whole experience really validated the decade of time and energy these coaches and parents have put into this community and these kids," said PCLL president Mark Sakalosky.
Are you a parent of a Palma Ceia Junior League player? Going to Sunday's game? Add your photos to our neighborhood gallery or email them to us!
