The Wantagh Hawks 10-under baseball team recently swept the Long Island Indians to capture the National Junior Baseball League (NJBL) National Division Championship.
The Hawks of the Wantagh Little League entered the NJBL playoffs as the number two seed after a successful 11-4-1 regular season.
The opening round of the playoffs was punctuated by a dominant 9-2 victory over the third-seeded Levittown West Tigers. The Hawks came out of the gates smoking and led 7-1 after 2 innings.
The Long Island Indians defeated the Garden City Lightning 10-1 to set up the Championship match up with the Wantagh Hawks.
Game one of the championship series saw the Indians jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Hawks finally broke through with a five-run rally to take 5-1 lead. The Hawks hung on and took the first game 5-2.
Brimming with confidence after the dramatic win in game one, the Hawks rallied for seven runs in the third inning of game two to jump out to an early 8-0 lead. The Indians responded with a run in the bottom of the third and three more in the fifth to close to 8-4.
The comeback proved to be too little too late as the Hawks prevailed 8-4 to win the NJBL title.
The winning formula proved to be a combination of efficient starting pitching, timely hitting and a solid defense that was marked with several acrobatic catches.
