Brett Palladino Brings Home Championship Win, Honoring Father's Day

9-year-old Brett Palladino gave his dad a Father's Day gift he'll never forget: bringing home the championship trophy for the AAU New England Championship Baseball Games with the New England Firebirds. 

Before the winning game, Brett told his mother Janelle, "If we win I am going to give Dad the championship ring for Father's Day," she recalled. "Tears started flowing immediately." 

The championship game was held on Sunday June 19 at Mt. Vernon in Lawrence. While the Firebirds were down by one run going into the sixth inning, Brett and his teammates came together for a game winning run. 

"When Brett was on third base watching his teammate at bat, he knew his run was the game winner," Janelle said. "When he crossed the plate he ran to Ciesielski who made the hit and jumped on him with the rest of the team."

Brett's father Scott is one of the coaches for the team. "[It is] a proud moment for all after a hard working season," Janelle said. "He was so excited."

Brett attends third grade at the , and was the only boy from town on the New England Firebirds Blue U9, a team based out of North Andover, owned by Dave Blank and Dave Bettencourt. Brett had been participating in their camps previously, but this was the first year they offered U9 teams. 

This isn't Brett's only major athletic accomplishment this year: his team, the North Shore Shamrocks Squirt team, won the EHF Hockey championship, and Brett came in first place in the 2011 Danvers American Little League Home Run Derby as well as the 2010 Minor A Champions of Danvers American Little League.