Heights 15-year-Olds Collect Another Title

The 15-year-old Hasbrouck Heights Babe Ruth team continued to add to its trophy case on Sunday.

The Heights 15-year-olds collected the District 4 Babe Ruth championship at Lyndhurst after defeating Ridgefield, 14-4.

With the victory, Hasbrouck Heights heads to the New Jersey state finals in Weehawken starting this Friday.

This was the same group of Heights baseball players that also won a district title while they were 10-years-old and also 12-years-old.

In this go-around, Heights was a perfect 5-0 in District 4 and actually could have lost the game on Sunday in the double elimination game.

But Heights Manager Gary Shenloogian said that they needed to take care of business on Sunday. "We had the luxury of losing, but we wanted to get it over with," said Shenloogian.

The Hasbrouck Heights manager said that his entire roster could start for other teams throughout the district. "Every one of the dozen players on the roster can start on any one of the other teams," added Shenloogian.

He added that the 14 runs are what the team can do with the bats. "The kids really hit today the way we expected them to," said the Heights manager.

"I think we can hit, pitch, defense and has speed," said Shenloogian. "The team has got all the tools."

Heights jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first two innings and never looked back.

Shawn Waldron and Andrew Mascis combined for the victory. Waldron pitched the first four innings and Mascis pitched the last three innings.

Waldron fired a two-hitter while striking out eight to keep Ridgefield off the scoreboard. "I was using my fastball to hit the corners and get ahead on the count then I came in with my slider to catch them off guard," noted Waldron.

Offensively the two biggest hits came from Kevin O'Leary who smacked a solo home run to lead off the second inning. Also Mascis shot a ground-rule double into left field in the seventh inning to score a pair of runs.

Before the win over Ridgefield, the biggest victory in the series came on June 30 when Heights notched six runs in the top of the seventh inning to break up a 3-3 tie with Wood-Ridge. "It is always good to beat them," said Shenloogian about defeating neighborhood rival, Wood-Ridge.

Heading into Weehawken Friday, the top key like always in baseball is on the mound. The Heights manager added that he thinks his team can generate the offense if the pitching does not come through.

"It comes down to pitching, but I really think that we can hit ourselves out of a game," said Shenloogian.

Along with Waldron and Mascis, the other Heights hurlers are Mark Shenloogian, Michael Matteis and Joe Crabbe. One of the catchers that plays very good defense is Gabriel Toledo.

The members of the Hasbrouck Heights 15-year-olds are Mark Shenloogian, Toledo, Matteis, Chris Verdi,  Crabbe,  Waldron, O'Leary, Mascis, Nick Lamendola, Robert Klenk, Daniel Nieves and Michael Blanco. Along with manager Gary Shenloogian, the coaches are Mike Mascis and Ed Hohnecker.