The Raiders—one of only five U.S. teams to compete in the international championship—were escorted to the park by police and greeted with community fanfare, free food, medals and letters of congratulations from Gov. Christie.
Althouugh they beat out the U.S. Championship team in the series, they lost the opportunity to vie against Virginia for the title by only a fraction of a point.
“We battled hard,” Bret Thompson said.
His favorite play of the entire season was a simple ground ball to pitcher Avery Scott, who got the out at third in Ridgewood’s Aug. 3 win over Toms River to become this year’s regional champions.
"It was great because it was the first time we realized we were going to the World Series,” he said.
The 2015 Ridgewood Raiders are the first U14 group to ever compete in the Junior League World Series.
The last team to compete at that level was the U12 team in 1979.
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