Nothing but joy as Marlton Chiefs come home Cal Ripken World Series champions
MARLTON, N.J. (CBS) -- Nothing but pure joy. Over the weekend, the 10-year-old Marlton Chiefs won the Cal Ripken World Series Championship game in Indiana.
It's been a whirlwind few days for the players and coaches. They're back home and are looking forward to celebrating with a community that's been cheering them on since Day 1.
The Chiefs are the 2022 Cal Ripkin World Series champions, making them the best 10-and-under team in the country.
"Going into that, it was first and second, two outs, tie ballgame, a scenario that every kid dreams about having and Michael got a great pitch to hit and he put a great swing on it. As soon as it was hit, I looked at it for a second, saw where the outfielder was and knew there was no shot he was catching it, and was just jumping for joy," head coach Mike Appalucci said.
Not only did they win the title, bringing it home to the leafy Burlington County suburb, but they went undefeated in the process, going a perfect 7-0.
"We started off with a team from Hawaii which was still amazing to play. I never thought this summer I'd be playing a team from Hawaii. And then we beat a team from Oregon and we finished up with the first team we played, from Florida, and beat them, which was amazing. All three games we came from behind. This team had no quit in them at all," Appalucci said.
The coach's son, Michael Appalucci, was named the MVP but you can tell he's a born leader by this response.
"I'm just happy that we won the World Series," he said.
Brayden scored the game-winning run.
"I don't usually run that fast but I turned on the jets," he said.
One of the assistant coaches was promoted to the rank of captain on Monday night in Evesham Township.
"The way 12 kids became one and every single kid had an impact on us winning. You can't quantify that at all. That's the best thing that you could ever see is seeing them come together to bring us home to Marlton," Capt. Jason Siitonen said.
