The two teams are sanctioned by different baseball organizations, play on different sized fields and competed in separate leagues for more than two months this past spring.
But last Wednesday night, the Cherry Hill Atlantic Little League Tigers and the Cherry Hill Youth Athletic Association White Sox took the field at Cherry Hill American Little League with one goal in mind, to win the Cherry Hill Mayor’s Cup and earn the title of the best youth baseball team in town.
After six innings of a tight, low-scoring game, the White Sox came out on top, 4–1. It is the second consecutive year a team from CHYAA has won the trophy.
The Mayor’s Cup is a tournament featuring the championship teams in the major division from Cherry Hill’s four youth baseball leagues: Cherry Hill Atlantic Little League, Cherry Hill Youth Athletic Association, Cherry Hill American Little League and Cherry Hill National Athletic League. The four teams face off in the semifinals, with the two semifinal winners playing for the Mayor’s Cup and the title of the best regular season youth baseball team in Cherry Hill.
The tournament is unique for a number of reasons. Unlike the all-start tournaments played during the summer, the Mayor’s Cup features regular season teams who have played together since April. The tournament also features teams from different sanctioning bodies. Cherry Hill Atlantic and Cherry Hill American play in Little League, while CHYAA and Cherry Hill National play Cal Ripken Baseball.
“You’re stuck in your own league and you play four other teams consistently,” White Sox head coach Christian Carkeek said. “It’s great because they get to see kids from other schools, kids they play soccer with.”
The differences in rules between Little League and Cal Ripken presented a unique challenge to the champion CHYAA White Sox in last Wednesday’s championship. The game was played under Little League rules, meaning the basepaths were 10 feet shorter and the pitcher’s mound was four feet closer to home plate than under Cal Ripken Baseball rules.
“You wouldn’t think it is a big deal, but it really is,” Carkeek said. “You make these basepaths 10 feet less and my guys can fly. That was a big thing.”
The White Sox won the game on the back of strong pitching from Steven Sgouros, solid defense and a pair of home runs from Sgouros and Peter Owens.
Owens said the smaller dimensions at Cherry Hill American gave him confidence when he was at the plate.
“I knew because it was a really small field, I could hit one out,” he said.
Reaching the Mayor’s Cup championship game is considered a large achievement in itself. For a team to get there, it must first win its individual league championship. Cherry Hill Atlantic Tigers head coach Jerry Janove said his team was excited to win its league and even more pumped to get to the Mayor’s Cup championship. The Tigers pulled out a come-from-behind win in the sixth inning last Monday in the Mayor’s Cup semifinals against Cherry Hill American to advance to the championship game.
“They grew together as a family,” he said. “They supported each other every step of the way. If anyone made a mistake, they picked them up. That’s why the team got this far.”
A number of the players on the White Sox know how difficult it is to win the Mayor’s Cup. Sgouros had played for the Mayor’s Cup two years ago with another CHYAA team.
“The first year I was at CHYAA, we made it here and lost,” he said. “The next year, we didn’t even win the championship at CHYAA. So to win this was really cool.”
Carkeek credited the win to an all-around team effort, saying every player made a contribution at some point during the White Sox playoff run.
“One to 11, all of them contributed something throughout the season,” he said.
