8-Year-Olds Put on a Baseball Show Worthy of Major Leagues

The batter turns on the pitch and lofts a fly ball into short center field. The centerfielder, stationed deeper toward the fence, takes off, charging in toward second base.

And just as it appears the ball is going to fall in for a base hit, the centerfielder drops to his knees and slides, reaching out and making a perfect catch to help his team escape a bases-loaded jam.

A drive to left field seems destined to fall in for extra bases, then suddenly the left fielder is airborne, diving to snare the ball in his outstretched glove.

Scenes from a nightly broadcast of SportsCenter? Nope, but they’re certainly worthy of it – especially when you consider these are 8-year-old boys making these plays.

And they made them when it counted most: in the District 18 championship game between the 8-year-old all-stars of the Berkeley American team and the all-stars from the Toms River National team on Saturday night at the Toms River Little League complex.

“I’ve done more than a thousand games,” umpire Nick Weinberger said, noting he’s seen games at levels including baseball and college, “this is fantastic. The hitting, the diving, it’s really impressive.”

“This is one of the most exciting games I’ve ever done,” Weinberger said.

“If you’re a baseball fan, you have to tip your cap to these kids,” said Jim Rainforth, manager of the Berkeley American all-stars, who came out on top, winning 8-7 in a game that could easily have gone either way – and almost did, thanks to the level of play that included no shortage of spectacular plays.

It is the Berkeley Little League’s first District 18 championship for its 8-year-olds.

The 8-year-old games are played a bit differently than those of the older kids. Instead of a pitcher, a coach feeds a pitching machine, which delivers the pitches to home plate. Each batter is only permitted six pitches, so there is some pressure on the boys to swing the bat. There are no called strikes, but a batter can strike out if they swing and miss or if they allow six hittable pitches to go by without swinging. Fouled-off pitches are treated just as they are at other levels, with the batter allowed to keep swinging so long as he (or she, girls are not excluded from Little League Baseball) is fouling off that final pitch.

That wasn’t a problem on Saturday night, as player after player from both teams drilled pitches, forcing their opponents to make plays like the sliding catch by Berkeley center fielder Ryan Black and the diving catch by Toms River left fielder Nick Tarantino. Others worth highlighting were Berkeley second baseman Jonny Rainforth snaring a line drive, Berkeley shortstop David Diaz fielding a ball on his knees and throwing from his knees to get the out at second, and Toms River second baseman Nick Mortellito fielding a ball and making a tough throw for an out at first.

And not to be overlooked was Berkeley’s Tyler Pepe, who was playing the fielding position that would be occupied by a pitcher. In the top of the sixth inning, he leaped to grab a high-bouncing grounder and then made a perfect throw to first for the out, helping Berkeley close out the game.

 “When I saw the kids getting horizontal for balls, even against me, I was clapping,” Rainforth said. “The plays demanded it.”

Toms River got out to an early 4-0 lead, hitting the ball solidly in the first inning and taking advantage of a couple of Berkeley mistakes. But Berkeley rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the first to narrow the gap to 4-2.

Berkeley made its move in the bottom of the fourth. Trailing 5-3 to Toms River after each team added a run in the third inning, Justin Kwatkoski tripled to center field, driving in Jason Rand, Gavin Whelan and Black to give Berkeley a 6-5 lead. Then Berkeley added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on another Kwatkoski triple to make it 8-5. The extra runs were important, because Toms River came back in the top of the sixth with two runs and had a runner on third when Berkeley’s Gavin Whelan fielded a grounder and threw to first for the final out.

Mike Mortellito, manager of the Toms River National team, praised the play of both teams.

“Berkeley made the plays when they had to,” Mortellito said.

After they received their trophies, the Berkeley players and families returned to town, honking their way down Route 9 in celebration, and Rainforth said the team will be honored at the next “Sounds of Summer” concert at Veterans Park, scheduled for August 3.

“We will cherish this special run forever,” Rainforth said.

The members of the Berkeley American team were Gavin Whelan, Ryan Black, Justin Kwatkoski, David Diaz, Michael Masino Jr., Chandler Perfetto, Jonny Rainforth, Tyler Pepe, Phillip Fried, Colby Goodman, Connor Shea and Jason Rand, Manager Jim Rainforth and coaches Jeff Goodman, Mike Masino Sr. and Shawn Shea.