The Major League Championship Series played out last week in dramatic fashion, and came to an emotional conclusion over the weekend, delivering a thrilling win for the Lions Club on a Father’s Day “winner takes all” series finale.

The playoffs began last Tuesday with the #2 seed Lions Club playing host to #3 seed Fire Department in the Wildcard opening game.  Managed by Frank Connolly, Fire Department had been playing the Lions Club tough all season long - so it was a surprise to no one as they battled the Lions right to the very end of this opening playoff game. Six innings of hard-fought baseball ultimately turned into a Lions victory as they defeated Fire Department by a score of 6-1 and advanced to the Championship Series to face the only team that managed to beat the Lions twice this season: the #1 seeded, Van Hook.

The ‘best of three games’ Championship Series began on Wednesday night with Van Hook hosting Lions Club. Anyone who thought Chris Moore’s Lions team might be setup for a let-down after the previous night’s grueling win over Fire Department would have been sadly mistaken. The Lions came to play that night, and they took the opening game by a score of 13-8.

The series continued on Saturday with Lions Club hosting Van Hook in game #2. Determined not to go down without a fight, John Capozzi righted the ship and managed his Van Hook team  to a series tying win by beating the Lions 12-7 and setting the stage for a Father’s Day Championship finale to remember!

The Championship finale had much of HHLL buzzing with anticipation, more so than any year in recent memory. Two coaches (Capozzi and Moore) who have been battling against each other since T-Ball, facing off one last time in this, the final game of the HHLL Major Division season. The game played out as it should have been expected, with back and forth scoring and nervous excitement right to the very last out.  And as the last out was recorded and the players walked off the field (some, for their very last time) it was the Lions Club that was crowned the 2013 HHLL Major League Champions as the defeated Van Hook by a score of 8-4.

Congratulations to ALL of the boys who participated in this year’s playoffs – your heart and determination is what makes Little League such a magical experience!

The season begins, with a dream of holding the prize...

...and the season concludes, when a champion is crowned.

Regardless of victor, we've made unbreakable ties...

...and so we won't say goodbye, we'll say "See you around!"

The Hasbrouck Heights Little League 2013 Spring season is just about over - it has been an amazing year so far, and our final event of the season is almost here. Please come join us at the Little League fields this coming Saturday, June 22nd (rain-date is Sunday, June23rd) from 11am-3pm as we celebrate the conclusion of our season with our annual picnic! There will be inflateables (some with water, so please bring your bathing suit and towels!), a dunk tank, food, face painting, and much more!!

As usual, we'll be looking for volunteers to help with this event as well as the Distric All-Star games we are hosting in the coming weeks - if anybody would like to get more involved with HHLL, please email me directly: patfass@juno.com

The seedings for the Major Division are officially set - next week, we'll begin our playoffs to determine the 2013 Division Champion!!!

Monday (June 10th) - 7:30pm - Fire Dept. @ Lions Club
Wednesday (June 12th) - 7:30pm - FD or Lions @ VanHook
Saturday (June 15th) - Time TBD - VanHook @ FD or Lions
Sunday (June 16th) - Time TBD - FD or Lions @ VanHook

GOOD LUCK, BOYS!!!!!

Our regular monthly meeting has been postponed from May 28th to June 4th (7:30pm in the Community Room). All parents and coaches are invited (and ecouraged) to attend these meetings...

Due to the weather, the girls' softball tournament has been postponed. It has been re-scheduled for Sunday, June 2.