A triple championship for Rockville Centre Little League

For the first time in history, all three age groups in Rockville Centre Little League won the District 30 championship, all while not losing a single game in the title tournament.

The 10, 11 and 12 year old teams each notched championship victories last month before falling in a sectional tournament. District 30 comprises teams from Rockville Centre, Lynbrook/East Rockaway, Oceanside, Baldwin and Long Beach.

“This group started as a team, played through as a team,” said Eddie Whalen, the coach of the 10-year-old team, “and everybody contributed, even the kid who is just getting one at-bat and sitting on the bench for six innings, he was an instrumental part of it. We made this a team mentality with the boys and we didn’t do anything separate. We did everything together as a team.”

Whalen guided his age group to victory, while Jack Bradley coached the 11-year-old team to the district title and John Hyland helped lead the 12-year-olds to the top of their district.

Whalen said he didn’t have high hopes going into the year because Little League enrollment was down in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and due to the growing popularity of lacrosse. He said there were only 42 kids who signed up to play in the league, so they put together four RVC teams of 10 or 11, which played each other throughout the regular season, and only took 14 of 17 Little Leaguers who tried out for the district tournament squad, while other towns had more than 30 kids vying for a spot.

In the District 30 tournament, Whalen’s team defeated Long Beach via the mercy rule, 15-0, in three innings and then toppled Oceanside, 8-0, before defeating Lynbrook/East Rockaway, 14-2, to capture the crown. It played all its games at Hickey Field in Rockville Centre, while the 11-year-olds played in Oceanside and the 12-year-olds played in Lynbrook. The 10-year-olds went on to fall to Massapequa, 10-0, and Floral Park, 7-6. in the sectional tournament, missing a chance to compete for the state championship in Rochester. The 11-year-old and 12-year-old squads also were unable to get past sectionals.

Whalen said a lot of the success at all age levels stems from some Rockville Centre dads starting a program called the Rockville Centre Tigers, which is a travel baseball team that enabled kids to continue to play even after the coronavirus pandemic paused the Little League season last year. It also offers them an opportunity to practice in a warehouse during the winter months to stay game-ready. It was formed in 2018, and Whalen said 13 out of the 14 members of his tournament team were a part of the Tigers program, so they have been on the same team for about two years, adding to their chances of success this past season. Whalen said he was also impressed with announcer Liam Beck, who was in the booth for all of his team’s games. He said he could be the “next Joe Buck,” referencing the Fox baseball and football announcer.

Bradley said his 11-year-old team was galvanized by the ability to play Little League again with their friends and teammates for the first time in more than a year.

“The kids hadn’t played in 15, 16 months, and I think they were just so happy to get out there and see their friends and play with their friends,” he said. “It was a great thing to see the joy on their faces.”

Whalen said he was excited that all three teams won their respective district titles. “Our goal is to always win the district and this was the first time RVC swept, which was great,” he said. “We’re the teams to beat. We were never the teams to beat before, but we’re the teams to beat now, and I’d like to see more people catch on and sign up.”

To learn more or sign up for RVC Little League, visit Facebook.com/RVCLL.