Haddonfield Little League team wins first-ever New Jersey state championship: "It's historic"
HADDONFIELD, N.J. (CBS) -- This year's Haddonfield Little League team for boys 9 to 11 years old has accomplished what none of their predecessors have been able to.
In North Jersey on Sunday, they won the borough's first state championship, beating perennial powerhouse Toms River, 9-5.
"We just went crazy," Finn Hadden, 11, said. "It was so much fun."
"We were the underdogs all tournament and we ended up winning," he added. "It was just awesome to be a part of this."
Haddonfield manager Frank Delano said his team's resiliency – they staged countless late-inning comebacks — and togetherness were the keys to their success
And this title? It's for all of Haddonfield.
"This is a we thing, this is not me thing," Delano said. "At the end, our job is to foster the best experience these kids could have."
Haddonfield Mayor Colleen Bianco Bezich was also on hand for the festivities to celebrate the team.
"It's incredible, it's historic for these boys to win the state championship, representing us, I think 75 years worth of history," she said. "And it's so much about family and community and the opportunity for them at this young age to just relish in something that's so celebratory, so much fun and they worked so hard at it."
Friends and supporters of the team also stopped by the festivities.
"Haddonfield is already known in the state of New Jersey for so many other great reasons, but they just made history in a whole other realm that they haven't even touched yet," Jason Fiorentino, of Cherry Hill, said.
The team moms were by their side every step of the way.
"It's great, it's exciting," Liz Rocco said. "We're happy for the boys. They got big smiles on their face and then we go out and party hard."
Once the partying is done, the boys will head to Massachusetts this weekend for the Eastern Regionals to take on the state champs from Vermont and Maryland.
