Bangor again put its best foot forward in the Senior League World Series and for the parents and fans of the players who participated in Saturday night’s championship game won by Freehold Township, N.J., 10-1 over El Rio of Oxnard, Calif., they left with fond memories of their weeklong stay.

“You have thoughts in your mind what it would be like, but this far exceeded anybody’s expectations,” said George Hubbert, whose son, Marc, was a catcher-outfielder for Freehold. “It is impeccable the way they handled everything here. The people have been very nice to us. The banquet was wonderful.”

“It’s beautiful here and all the people were really nice to us. If I hear anybody say anything [negative] about the people here, I’m going to go kick some you-know-what,” said Al Barroso, father of El Rio right fielder A.J. Barroso. “The field is beautiful. I wish we had one back home like this.”

“Our kids are used to playing on fields with gopher holes. Our fields are infested with gopher holes,” said Brian Cuilty, Barroso’s neighbor. “This was an experience of a lifetime. People here are amazing. Back home, you’re on edge all the time. Here, we were able to let our guard down and have a good time.”

“This tournament has been the greatest experience I’ve had in sports in my 50 years,” said Freehold manager Mike Brach, father of pitcher-second baseman Brett Brach. “This place is fantastic.”

“We had the time of our lives. We’ll remember this forever,” said Pancho Tinoco, manager of the El Rio team.

Defense was Bangor’s downfall

The problem for the Bangor team in the Senior League World Series was defense.

Bangor, which went 0-4, allowed 38 runs in its four losses and 13 of them were unearned.

Bangor made at least three errors in every game.

“I was definitely surprised,” said manager Barrett Dionne. “During the [high school] JV season and in Senior League, everybody played really well. But we came out here and broke down. I don’t know if it was the pressure of all the people in the stands or if our guys were afraid to lose.”

“Every game we made one or two errors that really hurt us,” said first baseman-third baseman-pitcher Scott Hackett.

But Dionne and Hackett thought they held their own and showed they belonged.

They lost two games by two runs and had leads in three of their four games.

They led Surrey, British Columbia, 3-1 before losing 7-5 and had a 5-0 lead on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands before winding up on the short end of a 10-8 score.

“I thought we did a great job of competing,” said Hackett. “It was a great experience. I wish I could do it again. I’ll probably remember this forever.”

“You’ve got to expect some of these teams to be better than us. A lot of them do play year-round. I was impressed with how we competed in most all the games,” said Dionne.

Rusbarsky stands out

The Senior League Baseball World Series presents no most valuable player award, but perhaps the most worthy candidate was shortstop A.J. Rusbarsky of the championship team from Freehold Township, N.J.

Rusbarsky batted .478 in six games with seven RBIs and a tournament-best 11 hits in 23 at-bats. He also was a defensive catalyst, helping the U.S. East representatives turn eight double plays – double the number turned by any other team in the 10-team field.

And those double plays routinely came at crucial times, such as the first inning of Saturday night’s final against El Rio, Calif., when Rusbarsky teamed with second baseman Shawn Bryson to turn a 4-6-3 double play that helped deny the U.S. West champions any early momentum.

If not Rusbarsky, that MVP honor might have gone to Dominic Brown of U.S. South champion Dade City, Fla.

Brown, a pitcher-outfielder who also is considered the top high school wide receiver in football-rich Florida, batted a tournament best .529 with nine hits in 17 at-bats and compiled a 2-1 pitching record with 24 strikeouts and a 2.67 earned run average in three appearances covering 21 innings.

A running battle

Saturday’s final featured the tournament?s two most prolific base-running teams, but only Freehold Township was able to establish its running game.

The champs went 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts, with Damian Csakai, A.J. Rusbarsky and Brett Brach all successful while helping Freehold Township bring New Jersey its first-ever Senior League world title.