Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Hewlett-Woodmere Junior League all-star baseball team, made up of players from the H-W Little League, claimed its first New York District 30 championship on June 28, defeating Freeport 7-0 at Baldwin Park to advance to the Little League International Junior League tournament.
The district title marked the Little League’s first championship in the Williamsport tournament in many years. The team finished the District 30 tournament with a 4-1 record, defeating Baldwin twice and Freeport twice, clinching the title behind six shutout innings from Jonah Brown and a two-strikeout save by Jacob Cohen.
“Winning the ultra-competitive New York District 30 Championship was well-earned and an incredible achievement,” manager Henry Cohen, of Woodmere, said. “The boys played great baseball in all phases of the game — pitching, defense, hitting and base-running. They were amazing and represented Hewlett-Woodmere Little League at the highest levels, both in how well they played the game and in sportsmanship.”
Cohen has coached in the league for seven years while his four sons have played at various levels. After leading several championship teams, he embraced the chance to guide Hewlett-Woodmere into the Junior League division of the Little League International Tournament.
The Junior League division is for players ages 13 and 14. Cohen assembled a roster consisting of the league’s top players, many of whom had spent years competing against one another before becoming teammates. Nearly all were eighth-graders at the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach: Yaakov Azerrad, Yehoshua Azerrad, Jonah Brown, Jacob Cohen, Isaac Cohen, Yehuda Farber, Yoni Fischbein, Dovi Gottlieb, Rafi Levine, Judah Poplack, Yoni Obermeister, Daniel Sacks and Dovid Walden.
Unlike many of their opponents, Hewlett-Woodmere relied almost entirely on players who came directly from the Little League rather than year-round travel baseball programs.
“A lot of the teams we played have travel players who compete year-round at a very high level,” Cohen said. “Our boys came from Little League. They may not have had the same experience, but they worked incredibly hard to prepare.”
Preparation became the team’s biggest advantage. The players practiced regularly at Hewlett Elementary School and Grant Park while making frequent trips to the batting cages at Five Towns Mini Golf & Batting Range on Rockaway Turnpike. Hewlett High School baseball coach Jake Passaretti volunteered to lead several instructional sessions to help prepare the squad for tournament competition on a larger field and under more advanced rules.
Because of the tournament format, Hewlett-Woodmere needed four victories to claim the district title. “It was really a major feat,” Cohen said. “The boys believed in each other, kept improving every game and never stopped working.”
Assistant coach Jason Farber, a Hewlett resident who has coached Little League for roughly 14 years, said the team’s greatest accomplishment was learning to become one unit despite the fact that the player previously starred on separate teams.
“These boys have all been the best players on their own teams,” Farber said. “Many of them had always played shortstop. Suddenly they had to learn new positions, and nobody complained. Everyone figured out how they could best contribute.”
Farber acknowledged that there were plenty of nerves before the opening game against Baldwin because Hewlett-Woodmere lacked the travel baseball experience many opposing teams possessed.
“The boys were anxious before that first game,” he said. “There was talk about hoping we didn’t lose badly. But after those first few innings, they realized they belonged. Once they relaxed and just played baseball, everything changed.”
From there, confidence replaced uncertainty. “There was no weak link,” Farber said. “Everyone developed very quickly, and everyone contributed to our success.”
Jacob Cohen, who played shortstop while also pitching in relief, said the players exceeded even their own expectations.
“We didn’t really think we were going to do much, because it was our first time doing something like this,” Jacob said. “The other teams play in these tournaments every year. We just went out there, pitched well, made good plays and were able to beat them.”
Competing against unfamiliar opponents made the experience even more memorable. “In Little League, we usually play kids from around our community,” Jacob said. “It was really cool playing against teams we’d never seen before. Every team was very competitive.”
Hewlett-Woodmere advanced to the tournament’s sectional competition earlier this month, in which it was eliminated by Franklin Square. The timing proved difficult, because several players had already left for sleepaway camp and had to travel back for games, some arriving only hours before the first pitch.
“The commitment the boys showed was unbelievable,” Farber said. “Families were driving kids back from camp because they wanted to be with their teammates. That says a lot about how close this group became.”
