Little League memories spur Cherry Hill East seniors to 5-1 start

Alec Rodriguez remembers folks along the fence down both baselines watching the 10-and-under Little League state championship game.

Ellis Schwartz remembers those moments before and after games and practices, the carefree fun of a bunch of a preteens.

Evan Gelman remembers every game, the site, the score, the situations.

“That was an amazing time for everybody,” Gelman said. “Out of all the Little League years I played, that was the most memorable by far.

“I remember who we played, where we played, everything about those games. It was a great time.”

It soon will be seven years since Rodriguez, Schwartz, and Gelman were members of the Cherry Hill Atlantic 10-and-under Little League team that won district and region titles and advanced to the state championship game.

But for those three Cherry Hill East seniors – as well as four other current Cougars who also were members of that squad – the spirit of that summer still lingers in their final baseball season as teammates.

“I think one of the most important things about a team is how close everybody is,” said Schwartz, the Cougars’ center fielder and No. 3 hitter and a Stony Brook University recruit. “That’s what’s so special about this team. Everyone wants everyone else to succeed.”

With 15 seniors, Cherry Hill East is off to one of the best starts in recent program history, with a 5-1 record through Friday.

Seven of the Cougars were members of that Little League team in 2012, including top relief pitcher Matt Lewis and key reserves Jesse Keesal, Nick Lopez, and Dan Zimba.

“These guys are just so close,” Cherry Hill East coach Jason Speller said. “You can just see how supportive they are of each other.”

Alumni of that 2012 team were front and center in Cherry Hill East’s 10-5 victory over Paul VI on Monday.

The speedy Schwartz rapped an RBI single to get the Cougars on the scoreboard in the first inning. He finished with three runs and three steals. For the season, Schwartz is batting .400 with nine runs and eight steals.

Gelman was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles and played both third base and first base. Rodriguez, the shortstop, also was 2-for-3 with a couple of RBI singles, including a perfectly placed bunt in the midst of a four-run, fifth-inning rally that broke open the game.

Lewis worked a hitless sixth inning, starting an “Echoes of 2012” double play – the pitcher to Rodriguez to Gelman – that snuffed out a Paul VI rally.

“It’s huge,” Rodriguez said of the Cougars’ camaraderie. “We’re all friends, and when you’re having fun with your friends, there’s nothing better than that.”

Schwartz said the bond with many of his classmates goes back to freshman year. With several of the guys, it goes back to that team of tykes in 2012.

“That was probably the best summer of my life,” Schwartz said. “We spent every waking hour together. We would hang out before practice, after practice. We just wanted to be together.”

Rodriguez can still picture the scene at Glassboro Little League, when Cherry Hill Atlantic played Holbrook for the state championship.

“As kids we really didn’t pay too much attention to that,” Rodriguez said. “We just came to play.

“But looking back to that and seeing how we were able to have success and have all those people out there, it’s a great feeling. We want to achieve that again.”

Gelman said this final scholastic season has special significance for all the Cougars’ seniors and especially for the guys who share the memory of that summer in 2012.

“This is the last time we’ll be playing together,” Gelman said. “We have something to share with each other. We can relate. It’s just a great memory to have with each other.”