Three Great Neck teams completed a sweep of their respective division championships in the Jewish Community Little League (JCLL) this past Sunday at St. John University.
The JCLL is chartered by Little League Baseball of Williamsport, PA. The league is comprised of various teams from Long Island and Queens including towns like Great Neck, Plainview, Hillcrest, Kew Gardens and Jamaica Estates. There are three divisions; Minors which compromise third and fourth graders, Majors which are fifth and sixth graders and Juniors which are seventh and eighth graders.
In the Minors division, the Great Neck fourth grade team completed a turnaround season with a championship amongst a field of 10 teams. After going 1-6 the previous year, the team turned things around by going 7-2 during this regular season.
In the Majors division, the Great Neck fifth grade team had an impressive perfect season. Their story began four years ago when as second graders they entered the Minors division amongst mostly fourth grade teams and won the B championship. The next season in the Minors division as third graders, they went undefeated and won the A championship. Last year as fourth graders they played up in the Majors division with primarily sixth grade teams and impressively lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champions.
This season as fifth graders, the team capped another undefeated season and won another championship out scoring their opponents 101-13 in 10 games. In the championship game, the Great Neck Majors came from behind twice to beat a tough KGS team, 6-5.
“This was the most exciting game in the last 10 years,” said Butch Rubin, executive director of JCLL said.
The Great Neck Majors team intend to play up again next season in the junior division as sixth graders and continue their unprecedented journey in JCLL history.
In the Juniors division, Great Neck was the No. 1 seed after finishing the regular season 6-2 and defeated KGS, 2-0, giving Great Neck a clean sweep of all three division championships.
“As far as I know, this is the first time in the history of the league that all three championships were won by Great Neck teams,” said co-commissioner and co-coach of the Junior team, Elie Cohen.
The Junior team was coached by Dr. Mordi Dicker and Cohen.
“The kids worked very hard this season and it really paid off”, said Dicker.
The games this past Sunday were all played with the American flag flying at half mast in memory of Marc Katz, who was a dedicated communal leader and served as president of the JCLL for more than 30 years and who suddenly passed away last Thursday.
Going forward, the league will rename the playoff games the Marc Katz Memorial Championship Series.
