Hawks are division champions

The next generation of great baseball players could be coming out of Wantagh and Seaford.

Teams from the communities both brought home championships this season, with the Seaford Vikings winning the 10-and-under title in the Federated Summer League, and the Wantagh Hawks emerging victorious in the 7-year-old division. 

“There’s winners, there’s losers — it’s important to teach the kids that they’re not going to win every game,” Jimmy Sensale, coach of the  Hawks, said. “And most importantly, we teach them that when they do win, it’s all about sportsmanship.”

Long Island Hot Stove Baseball is an independent organization in which children ages 7 to 16 can play baseball almost year-round — fall, spring and summer. The players do additional training in the winter to make sure they are fit ahead of the spring season. The program incorporates each town’s Little League teams, and unlike the typical youth club programs, where volunteering fathers pitch, score isn’t kept, and the tee is always an option, this program sees kids playing real, competitive baseball from the start.

The divisions are created based on age, and there are 10 divisions from 7- to 16-year-olds.

Wantagh’s season ran from June 23 to Aug. 9, when the team won the league championship. Most of the Hawks’ games took place at Lodato Field at Forest Lake Elementary School, with a few games being played at the field on Duckpond Drive.

Sensale said he felt that his team’s greatest asset was its defense.

“Our team was just 7 years old, and our defensive pitching was incredible,” Sensale said. “It was a real surprise how sound we were.”

The Wantagh Hawks finished with a record of 9-2-1. Prior to the championship game, they defeated North Bellmore, 11-10, in the semifinals. They then squared off against the South Shore Chiefs in the championship game, winning 2-1.

According to Sensale, the Hawks enjoyed a friendly rivalry with the South Shore Chiefs, which made the championship game all the more exciting.

“We played them three times in the regular season; we won one, they won one, and we tied one,” Sensale said. “Then we played them a fourth time in the championship game, and won.”

Seaford’s winning team, a few years older than Wantagh’s, won the 10-and-under title. Coach Michael Gagliano said the Hot Stove program is excellent for aspiring junior varsity and varsity baseball players.

They started off with a pre-season Father’s Day tournament to get the team warmed up against other teams in the area, and Seaford won that tournament.

In the regular season, the Seaford Vikings went 15-1 overall, and according to Gagliano, played a noteworthy game against Port Washington on July 28, which went into extra innings.

“We normally play six innings with a two-hour time limit,” Gagliano said. “But this had to go extra innings. It got dark, and the kids loved playing under the lights and getting to rush the field at the end.”

Gagliano couldn’t single out any players for praise, saying that the whole team was great and worked hard as a unit to bring home the title.

“It was a great summer,” he said. “The kids had a ton of fun. They’re learning the game of baseball and spending time with their friends.”

Both the Wantagh and Seaford Little Leagues wished the Massapequa Coast squad good luck as it moved on to play in the Little League World Series.