Published: July 10, 2009 10:42 am      

Youth team’s record proves they really are All-Stars

PRINCETON — The Princeton Rays may get more attention, but there’s another group of all-star baseball players in town — one that boasts a record that would make any team proud.

The undefeated Princeton 9-10-year-old Little League All-Stars played nine games on their run to become the District 4 champs, a title they captured Tuesday night in Ronceverte. During those games, the 11 Princeton-area players scored an amazing 113 runs, and allowed only six.

In fact, manager Tucker Meadows reported there was only one game in which his All-Stars played more than four innings. The All-Star Little League rules require that any game in which one team is ahead by more than 10 runs after four innings of play be called in favor of the dominant team. Only Oak Hill forced the Princeton All-Stars past the fourth inning.

“It’s been great,” Meadows said. “We’ve just got good, hard-working kids that love baseball. They play hard and work hard, and it’s just been great.”

Along the way, the excited coach said parents, the community and the Greater Princeton Little League have all provided outstanding support, even when a realignment in districts sent the Princeton team to Ronceverte for the majority of their games.

“I never once heard somebody complain,” Meadows said. “That’s how dedicated these players and these parents are.”

He said the team, which will begin pool play on Saturday, has a chance to take the All-Star minor league championship, and that realization has been a goal for the last two years.

When Meadows started coaching many of the boys on his current 9-10-year-old team, he said his ambition was to get to the point where they could play for the title with a real opportunity to bring the trophy home.

“I feel like we can go up there and make a lot of noise for the Princeton area,” Meadows said. If the Princeton team finishes in the top two slots after initial pool play over the weekend, the players will advance to single-elimination play early next week.