Iron men: Marlborough competing at Cal Ripken 10U World Series in Indiana

When the National and American Leagues of professional baseball finally put their differences aside in 1903, so was born as glamorous a term and concept as one could dream for a kid’s game: “World Series.”

Over the last century-plus, that branding saved for the sport’s grandest spectacles has extended from the pros to the youth leagues. For starry-eyed ballplayers to experience a different slice of the country and play the game they love, it’s a development reserved for a select few.

The Marlborough 10-and-under Cal Ripken League team is among the fortunate few, playing in the Cal Ripken 10u World Series in Vincennes, Indiana, over the last week.

“We’re in the less-than 1 percent of all the kids playing baseball across towns and cities in the country who get a chance to do this,” said team manager John Kirejczyk on a call from Indiana on Thursday.

Plenty of potential

So how does it so happen that a group of 10- and 11-year-olds and their families mobilize from Central Mass. to a small town on the Indiana-Illinois border?

Kirejczyk has watched this group play together for the last couple years in Cal Ripken Baseball, a division of Babe Ruth League. And the team has made a habit of winning big games along the way.

“I always thought this group had potential,” he said. “Last year we made (New England) regionals as a 9u team. This year we lost in regionals, but they ended up expanding the field.”

That expansion was a fortunate development for this year’s team that reached the semifinals of the New England Regional Tournament in Chelmsford. That tourney came after the Panthers had won the Western Massachusetts state championship for their age group.

About a week and a half before the World Series was set to begin in Indiana, Kirejczyk got a call from the Cal Ripken Northeast Regional commissioner asking if his team would want to participate.

“I said ‘I’m pretty sure we do,’” he said. “Knowing these parents, the support we get. We had a quick team meeting, everyone said yes, let’s do it. We got fundraisers going, the local community involved. It’s been incredible.”

Community comes together

A team parent set up a GoFundMe to get the team out to Vincennes. It has raised more than $17,000.

So to Vincennes they went. Some flew into Louisville, Kentucky, and drove the roughly two-and-a-half hours to Vincennes, some flew to Indianapolis and made the two-hour drive and others made it a road trip (about 15-plus hours without accounting for stops).

When they played their first game on Friday, Aug. 5, against Andrews, Texas, the manager wasn't sure what to expect.

“I was thinking, we didn’t win our regionals, so this is going to be a shock for us,” Kirejczyk said. “We go in, and we won our first game against Andrews, Texas. That had us like ‘We can compete here.’”

Marlborough went on to lose its next three games (2-0 to Sikeston, Missouri; 13-0 to Vincennes Green; 3-2 to Willamette Valley, Oregon), but “two of the three losses, we were in it the whole way,” Kirejczyk said.

Milton, the regional champion, was also with Marlborough in Vincennes this week. While the tournament is happening in Vincennes, however, players, coaches and their families are staying in nearby towns. The Marlborough contingent is at a Hampton Inn in Princeton, Indiana, 25 miles south of Vincennes. And they are far from alone.

“With us is a team from Oahu, Hawaii, from Fargo, North Dakota, and yep, from Milton,” Kirejczyk said. “The kids are making amazing friendships. They’re in the middle of Indiana, hanging out, playing whiffle ball, just making unbelievable memories. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The support from the community goes beyond GoFundMe as well. Since the trip wasn’t one that was planned months in advance, many parents are using it as a working vacation of sorts.

“We have parents working on computers in their rooms, the lobbies, in the stands. But they’re here for the kids. The commitment and support from families, we are extremely thankful.”

Diamond gem in the Hoosier State

The Vincennes Cub League Complex is the host site, the seventh time this town of about 17,000 has hosted the event.

As the lifelong Marlborough resident Kirejczyk puts it, the proverbial red carpet has been laid out.

“These people here know what they are doing,” Kirejczyk said. “The complex is astounding. The infields have brand new sod. The outfield, it’s like playing golf on a fairway.”

On Thursday, Marlborough (2-3 in the tourney) defeated Moses Lake, Washington, by a 10-8 score in the quarterfinals of the Iron Man consolation bracket, and were slated to face Campbellsville, Kentucky, in the consolation semis on Friday. The winner was slated to face Milton (2-4) in the consolation final on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Kirejczyk's son, 11-year-old Chris, is on the team. Chris is the oldest of three and is one of four sons of a coach on the team. Assistant coaches Chris Curran (Jared Curran), Dan Stanhope (Drew Stanhope) and Brian Torpey (Quinn Torpey) all have kids playing on the team. Also on the team are Owen Blair, Thomas Bradley, Braedon Brown, Vinny Correa, William Davis, Luke Julien, Brayden LeClerc and Antonio Sinni.

Building to the moment

The groundwork for this journey was laid in Marlborough, with the work the likes of Marlborough Youth Baseball Association president Marc Kantor and others have done through the years.

"We always want more and more kids to participate in baseball, get natural athletes involved," Kirejczyk said. "It's a great sports community, and a lot still go to lacrosse. But there are at least six all-star teams in MYBA, all drawing from Marlborough.

“Marlborough Youth Baseball has done a great job developing these kids," he said. I couldn’t be more proud of these boys.”

It's an experience, a worldly one, nobody involved will soon forget.

Tim Whelan Jr. is the sports editor of the MetroWest and Milford Daily News. Follow him on Twitter @thattimwhelan.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Marlborough baseball team competing at Cal Ripken 10U World Series