WEST ORANGE, NJ – The undefeated Cubs won the West Orange Mountain Top League Majors baseball championship against the A’s. The Cubs comprised players in grades 4-6.
The MTL each year selects the teams, not the coaches, that are balanced on skill level after all the player evaluations are done. One thing that a player evaluation does not measure is heart, said Cubs head coach Rhett Zidziunas.
“The 2018 Cubs demonstrated unmeasurable heart,” said Rhett. “The goal was to play well, play smart and play hard. Never was the goal to go undefeated, until of course when that reality started kicking in.
There is no question that our record put an enormous amount of pressure on the kids, especially the pitchers. I feel that it was the parents who supported the kids and teaching them to have a positive attitude towards a tough coach like myself is what carried most of the victories. I never saw not once a bad attitude.”
The championship game was rained out prior to completing the third inning. The game was postponed until the next day in which it was the third inning with two outs and a runner on second and the score was 8-3.
On the first pitch, the batter grounded out to the pitcher completing the third inning. From there, the Cubs scored two runs and in the following inn another three runs that concluded the game after five innings with a score of 13-3.
Nicholas Zidziunas pitched five innings, allowing one earned run and striking out six to finalize the championship victory. All Cubs contributed on the hitting and all had great hitting performances the entire season.
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