The South Jersey Sand Sharks and their dads celebrate the 10U Father’s Day Classic championship.
By Rich Bevensee
Some time around the beginning of May, the 10U South Jersey Sand Sharks of Galloway Township began to click. And that doesn’t mean just getting along. They began to win. A lot.
It’s been nearly two months since the Sand Sharks caught fire, and they continued their torrid pace this weekend when they made the trip north to Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Breydan Goetz allowed three runs over five innings while his teammates collected 12 runs on 12 hits, and the Sand Sharks continued their hot streak Sunday with a 12-4, five-inning victory over the Central Jersey Rebels in the 10U championship game of the Father’s Day Classic Powered by Pure Rush.
In their prior visit to ‘The Nation’ last fall, the Sand Sharks lost to Clutch in the 10U Fall Classic title game on Oct. 5.
“This means a lot to me and the team,” said Ryan Mooney, who led all Sand Sharks hitters in the final by going 3-for-3 with two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored. “We wanted to win today because last fall we got second here and we didn’t want the dads to go home sad.”
For the weekend Mooney batted .727 with a home run, two doubles, 11 RBI and eight runs scored.
“It’s an honor to be here,” said Goetz, the tournament MVP. “The facility is awesome. I love being here. It’s all about energy. We like to hype up our guys, we like to do it all, hit home runs and have a blast.”
Goetz hit .700 this weekend with three doubles, a triple, six RBI and eight runs scored. He also pitched 1⅓ innings in a 14-6 pool victory over the Diamond Jacks.
The Sand Sharks won their fourth straight and notched their 23rd win in 26 games. That’s an unbelievable run considering that 10U baseball can resemble a pinball machine with the high powered offenses these clubs assemble.
“I’ve had a lot of these kids since they were eight, since many of them were shorter than my waistline,” Sand Sharks coach Mark Park said. “I’m not surprised that they clicked because they’ve been together for a while. Who’s counting but I believe this is 142 victories since I started coaching them and a lot of these guys have been here for all of them. I owe it to the parents and families for being dedicated.”
Brendan Goetz, with his father Michael, earned the 10U Father’s Day Classic MVP award.
Another facet of the Sand Sharks’ success is their resilience. They went 4-0 this weekend and outscored the opposition 63-15, but in three of their last four games they had to come from behind.
In the 10U final, the Rebels roared to a 3-0 lead, a first-inning rally capped by Bryce Bell’s two-out, two-run single.
“We fell behind 3-0 in that first inning but these guys are never out of the fight. They always find a way to win,” Park said.
To his credit, Goetz buckled down after the first inning and allowed just one run on six hits and one walk over the final four frames. That adjustment may be credited to the fact that Goetz usually gets the ball in championship games and understands how to throttle the nerves.
“I still get nervous in the big games, but I tell myself to just calm down,” said Goetz, who sprinkled in a few curveballs with a steady diet of fastballs. “Plus, the guys hype me up and it’s really great.”
The Sand Sharks notched a run in the first with Mooney’s RBI double, then steamrolled to a 9-1 lead with an eight-run second inning. Gang Galloway sent 13 batters to the plate and collected its eight runs on eight hits and two errors.
“Watching everyone hit is really fun,” Mooney said. “It’s like watching an MLB game because there’s a bunch of hits.”
There’s a lot of baseball talent in that Mooney household. Ryan’s older brother, Sean, a right-handed pitcher at Ocean City High, set school records for career victories (26), strikeouts (312) and ERA (1.13) before graduating in 2016. That Ocean City team reached the NJSIAA Group 3 championship game. Sean Mooney later played for St. John’s and reached the Double-A level in the Minnesota Twins organization.
Ryan Mooney, pictured with his brother Sean (who played in the Minnesota Twins organization) and his father Tom, led the Sand Sharks with a .727 batting average.
“When I’m hitting, he tells me to swing harder because if you make contact it’ll go farther,” Mooney said. “And when I’m pitching he says to throw as hard as you can with two strikes.”
In the Sand Sharks’ big second inning rally, Michael Cooper had an RBI double, Jack Bruno singled in a run, two runs scored on an outfield error, Mooney and Zach Park each had an RBI single, and Goetz added a sacrifice fly to make it 9-3.
In the bottom of the fourth the Sand Sharks added some more offense, as Mooney doubled in a run, Park had a sac fly, and Goetz scored on an outfield error for a 12-3 lead.
The Rebels tacked on a single run in the top of the fifth – on an RBI single by Colin Kelleher – before the Sand Sharks closed out the championship.