Before the Washington Park 11-and-12-year-old Little League All-Stars boarded the bus that would take them to rural Sussex County and Kittatinny, the site of this year’s New Jersey state championships, the coach of the team, Lou Collazo, called upon a special friend to offer a few pearls of wisdom.
“He’s a good guy,” Collazo says about former Yankees pitcher Willie Banks. “I call him and he comes.”
Banks, the Jersey City native who spent nine years in Major League Baseball, now resides in Ocean County and has a baseball academy in Toms River. But when Collazo called Banks to tell him that he had a team actually going to the Little League state championships, Banks, the former St. Anthony phenom, didn’t hesitate to motor up the Parkway to say hello.
“He gave a little pep talk to the kids,” Collazo said of Banks, who was the No. 3 pick overall in the MLB Draft in 1987. “He told them to believe in themselves. It was good of him to come.”
Unfortunately, Banks’ inspirational words fell short of their ultimate goal, because Washington Park fell twice at the state championships.
They first lost, 6-4, to eventual state champions Holbrook of Jackson, and then lost 9-0 to Wayne.
Just like that, the dream summer was over.
But there was still the District 7 championship, the second in three years for Washington Park. And the Washington Park kids climbed the second leg of the ladder, winning the Section 2 title to move on to the state championships.
It marked the first time that a Jersey City team had qualified for the state tournament since Roberto Clemente won the state title in 1988.
“We felt we were right there,” Collazo said. “We thought we could go further than what we did. In the first game [against Holbrook], we went right down to the wire. We had bases loaded a couple of innings, but just couldn’t get the big hit we needed.”
The second game against Wayne, the locals ran into a buzz saw pitcher.
“We had to come back,” Collazo said. “It was the first time they faced adversity all summer. But after the first loss, we came back flat. The pitcher struck out 16. I think we went in there defeated. I sensed it prior to the game. The passion wasn’t there. The fire was gone. We weren’t as hyped as we used to be. Our kids seemed to be going through the motions. They got knocked down, but I told them they weren’t knocked out. It was like a TKO [a technical knockout] in boxing. It’s all about adversity and we didn’t handle losing well.”
But Collazo was optimistic about the future.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board now and see what we can do better,” Collazo said.
One of the team’s 11-year-olds is the talented shortstop Angel Cepeda, who is already being moved all around the country to play. Cepeda played for the Jersey Storm team that played for the National Baseball 11-and-under championship last weekend, a game that was televised by the CBS Sports Network.
“Live and learn,” Collazo said. “That’s what we can take from this. I am proud of these kids. I couldn’t be any prouder. It was a special season for us. We set the bar and helped to put Washington Park on the map. It was a great thing for our city to have these kids do so well, representing Jersey City. I bet the Mayor should be proud.”
In fact, plans were in place from Mayor Steven Fulop to honor the Washington Park All-Stars in some capacity.
“These kids created memories they’ll have forever,” Collazo said. “They had Willie come here. They got some attention. You can’t beat that. The only way to beat it is to come back next year and try to take it to the next level.”
The next level would be winning the state title. Washington Park was right there. It certainly was a summer to remember for those champions.
EXTRA INNINGS focuses on the best stories that come from local baseball and softball leagues throughout the area, from Little League action through travel leagues.
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