Holbrook's Little League World Series Trip 5 Years In The Making (Video)

JACKSON, NJ — Tony Del Vecchio remembers watching a group of 8-year-olds smacking the cover off the baseball.

"They were playing in a machine-pitch tournament at Toms River (Little League)," said Del Vecchio, president of the Holbrook Little League. "They won every game and it wasn't even close."

"It was 'Wow, where are these kids coming from?' " Delvecchio said.

Perhaps the better question would have been where are they going: the core group of that team has made a business of winning, starting with that machine-pitch tournament in 2013, and now are in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on the biggest Little League stage of them all.

Holbrook Little League, the New Jersey state champions and Mid-Atlantic Region champions, are immersed in the Little League World Series this week. The team takes on Fairfield, Connecticut, the New England champions, at 3 p.m. Thursday at Lamade Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.

"It's something you always hope for and strive for," Del Vecchio said. "It's the goal of every Little League coach and parent." But seeing the team actually reach that goal is a different experience. After winning the 8-year-olds tournament in 2013, seven or eight of those players (out of 13) were members of the all-star team that won a 9-year-old tournament in Barnegat the following year. In 2015, 10 players from the previous year returned and were joined by three more to make up the current group of all-stars, who have played together each year (with the exception of one) ever since.

"My wife put together a video montage of the team and as she was reading the names off, I realized how many of these kids have been together since they were 8," he said. (See the video at the end of the article

That group has really gotten comfortable with each other and it has led to the solid play that secured a Mid-Atlantic Region tournament title in Rhode Island last year. At that age, the regional event and a single-game playoff against the New England champion was as far as they could go. But it was a prelude to this year, where they reached the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut without much difficulty.

"We've beaten everyone handily," Del Vecchio said of the 2017 team, which hasn't lost a game since a 7-6 defeat at the hands of Manchester during District 18 pool play on July 5.

"In my heart I kind of felt they were going" to Williamsport, he said. Del Vecchio had looked at the brackets for the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament and one thing stood out: None of the teams Holbrook had played in Rhode Island in 2016 had repeated.

"I knew Bristol was in reach," he said, but Del Vecchio said he never anticipated the team going 4-0 in to claim the Mid-Atlantic crown. Though they won handily, they have not taken it for granted, even when they were leading 7-0 Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic championship.

"Nobody was comfortable, (even at 7-0)," he said. "I wouldn't even say the Williamsport word until Sunday."

Del Vecchio said he talks with team manager Rob Grano and gets updates on the experience the kids are having.

"They got new uniforms, new jerseys, new pants, even new cleats," he said. "This is beyond anything you can even explain. The kids are having such a blast."

Back home, the families of Holbrook Little League are enjoying the attention as well, with signs popping up throughout Jackson congratulating the kids and support rolling in from everywhere.

Todd Frazier, the New York Yankees player who was a household name during the 1998 Toms River East American World series run, has given shout-outs to the team on Twitter and on Tuesday received his very own personalized copy of the T-shirts the Holbrook families will be wearing in Williamsport this week. The front is emblazoned with the New Jersey state champions logo with the words "Back to Back to Back" in the middle, and the back is personalized with the last name and the player's number.

In the wake of his tweet requesting a shirt, one of the league's softball coaches delivered the shirt personally to Frazier at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night.

"It's so amazing," Del Vecchio said. "The support, the media coverage, all of it."

And when it's all over, he's hoping the boys wind up with an experience that bonds them for the rest of their lives.

"They're all good friends," he said. "I hope they always will be."

If you would like to give the kids and their parents a helping hand with the costs, Holbrook officials said there are four GoFundme campaigns that have been set up. Click Here for more information.

Photos courtesy of Holbrook Little League, used with permission