South Brunswick U-11 Baseball Finishes With Five Titles

The South Brunswick U-11 baseball team wanted a good season, but it got so much more.

In the nine events it competed in, South Brunswick placed first five times and second twice.

For those that wanted a dog, this would be like getting Lassie. For those that wanted a car, this would be like driving around town in the Mach Five.

"We finished with an overall record of 43-10," South Brunswick Manager John Klemas said. "This year surpassed all of our expectations."

The latest tournament title game for South Brunswick came this past Sunday as it defeated North Edison, 15-5, to win the event hosted by Hillsborough.

The season ended for South Brunswick in the title game of the North Brunswick Tournament on Monday. South Brunswick was defeated by East Brunswick, 8-5.

South Brunswick won the Central Jersey Baseball League. In addition to the one in Hillsborough, the team also won tournaments in South Brunswick, Montgomery and Bridgewater.

South Brunswick was second in North Brunswick. It was also second in the districts.

The members of the team providing all those wins are Jaime Klemas, Nikhil Bagle, Alex Chen, Ryan Stadler, Troy Sweeney, Kunal Thakral, Brandon Warick, Jason Seliger-Braun, Adam Britton, Kevin Reyes and Chris James.

"We're very happy about the season," Klemas said. "It's definitely been a good season for the boys and Jaime (Klemas' daughter)."

While thrilled by the results, Klemas knew it was time for the season to come to an end.

"It's been a very long and hectic season," Klemas noted. "A lot of doubleheaders."

The reason for the doubleheaders was the fact the nine events South Brunswick competed in often overlapped. The team not only had to go from town to town each day, they often needed to be in two places within a 24-hour period.

"It'll be nice to take a break," Klemas said. "With practices, we're going almost every day."

After about a month off, the team will compete in a fall league.

"I'm sure in a couple of weeks, I'll be missing it," Klemas said. "We all earned a well-deserved break. That's for sure."

After all, this is a team that started getting ready for this very succesful season during the winter.

"All the hard work over the winter paid off," Klemas said. "We're a well-rounded team. The pitching did well. Defense backed up the pitching. We didn't need a lot of runs to win some games. We definitely pulled together as a team."

And got a dream season that often exceeded their dreams.