Prior to this season, the Newark National Little League hadn’t won a Delaware Senior League baseball district or state title since 2000.
Now they are going to the Senior League World Series after winning the eight-team, double-elimination East Region Tournament on the Ronald J. St. Pierre Field at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor on Sunday by virtue of a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over Massachusetts champion Oxford.
Newark National, which scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 2-1 deficit in the final, won all four of its games to become Delaware’s first East Region titlist since Wilmington won it in 2019.
Senior League is for players 13-16 years old.
Oxford reached the championship game a year ago but lost to DuBois, Pennsylvania, 3-1, after forcing a winner-take-all final with a 7-2 win over DuBois in the championship round’s first game.
Oxford, which is 12 miles from Worcester, would have had to beat Newark twice to claim the title.
Newark is the home of the University of Delaware.
The 12-team Senior League World Series will be held at the J.B. Red Owens Sports Complex in Easley, South Carolina, on Aug. 1-8. Newark will receive a first-round bye and will play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday against the winner of the Saturday game between Southwest champ Laredo American Little League from Texas and the host team from South Carolina.
Newark beat the Roberto Clemente Youth Baseball LL from Waterbury, Connecticut, 10-0 in its opener before rallying for three seventh-inning runs to edge the Railroaders LL from Brunswick, Maryland, in its second game, 11-10.
Newark reached the championship round with a 6-2 victory over the South Kingstown American Little League from Rhode Island.
Oxford lost its opener to the Railroaders, 9-8, but won its next four games to advance to the championship round.
Oxford beat Waterbury, Connecticut 16-1, the Newville Little League from Newville, Pennsylvania, 5-3, the Blackwood Kiwanis Little League from Blackwood, New Jersey, 2-0, and South Kingstown, Rhode Island, 7-2.
According to tournament director Mike Brooker, Oxford’s Owen Leavey became the first player to hit two homers in the East Region tourney since it debuted in Bangor in 2019.
Brooker said despite the fact the tournament had its lowest gate ever, it was a “good tournament.”
“It was very competitive,” said Brooker who added that the players were “well-behaved” and there were no incidents on or off the field.
Seven of the 14 games were decided by two runs or less.
There were no Maine teams entered, which played a role in the low attendance, he said.
He said Newark and Oxford were very solid teams with good pitching depth and there were two or three other top-quality teams, also.
On Saturday, they announced the naming of the field after Ron St. Pierre, who has been the field director and maintenance supervisor since it opened in 1992.
“It’s very deserving,” said Brooker.
The Newark National team’s general manager is Darren Kelley and the coaches are Kevin Fillingame and Bo Fischer. The players are A.J. Swain, Austin Ambrose, Austin Ledoschuk, Carter Golden, Chris Griffin, Gavin Mort, Jerry DuHamell, Logan Burgess, Lucas Kelley, Matt Kunicki, Nick Fischer, Phillip Crist, Scott Fillingame, Tyler Patone, Zackary Faircloth and John Toomey.
The Senior League World Series had been held in Bangor from 2002-2016, but it was moved to South Carolina because of travel difficulties getting teams to Bangor.
Brooker said he expects Bangor to host the East Region tourney again next year.