Daniel Rutman describes his Thornhill Rockets rookie ball baseball club as not having individual superstars.
However, the Rockets head coach is quick to note his cast of eight- and nine-year-olds are a superstar team, playing fundamentally sound baseball.
That was evident last weekend when the club took to the ball diamonds in Etobicoke for the Southern Ontario Baseball Association championships and emerged as champions after rallying from a six-run deficit to edge Whitby 8-7 in the final.
“It was incredible,” Rutman said of his club’s feat. “For a lot of the kids this was their first year of organized ball. They weren’t expected to do as well as we did. We don’t have any superstars. But we’re a smart team. The kids know how to play. They don’t run on fly balls or line drives. It was pretty impressive.”
In the final game, the Rockets trailed 7-1 at one point before winning the game in their last at bat.
The game hinged on a bases loaded, one-out single by Ben Shulman, son of ESPN broadcaster Dan Shulman, that drove in the winning run.
To reach the final, the Rockets won all three of their round-robin games, against Martingrove 11-5, Richmond Hill 4-0 and Vaughan 8-2. Advancing to the semi-finals, the Rockets routed Richmond Hill Aylsworth 17-6.
In addition to Shulman’s heroics, two other members garnered tournament honours. Those included Josh Moscoe, who was named the most sportsmanlike player and Matthew Shuman, who was the offensive player.
Other team members are Jadon Rutman, Zach Bernstein, Zach Shereck, Sebastian Tsang, Jorey Perry, Saul Fruitman, Isaac Finkelstein, Corey Kaminski and Rueben Gasee.
Assisting Rutman in the dugout were Dan Shereck, Lorne Shuman and Jon Sorbo.