For this spring and summer, the Deep River-Chester-Essex (DR-C-E) 12-U All-Stars Little League Majors baseball team can look back upon this year with a reflective sense of pride in learning valuable lessons about chemistry and cohesion through the diamond while well-representing a trio of local communities with their skills and sportsmanship.

In an entire campaign that opened up in late April and commenced about two months later towards the end of June, the All-Stars with Head Coach Keith Lundgren competed to an 11-4-1 regular season record before participating in an interleague tournament with the surrounding Shoreline towns that included another DR-C-E club, Westbrook and Old Saybrook. After round robin play, these All-Stars faced their DR-C-E counterparts in the title tilt with Lundgren’s squad finishing runner-up.

From there, they moved onto the District 9 Tournament and partook in the Coginchaug Pool of that draw with the likes of the host town, eventual-winner East Hampton, East Haddam and North Branford. Lundgren and the boys went 1-3 for pool play, though despite the mark, he saw plenty of heart, fight, and maturity from these young boys of summer.

“Even with our record, we played very competitive baseball,” said Lundgren. “We held the winner of that tournament, East Hampton, to only two runs in a 2-0 loss, which was the high point of our year. That game could have gone either way. The year was fun; early on, it was evident we had a good group of kids with a willingness to compete and win. When we merged with the other DR-C-E team for the District Tournament, the team jelled, and they knew each other well through competing in other sports. But they not only took baseball seriously, but they also knew how to be good teammates.”

In addition to seeing the dual-squad appearance by the two Valley area clubs in the Shoreline bracket final, Lundgren marveled at how much enjoyment the members of those tandem teams had in the outing after the contest.

“It was pleasing to see both DR-C-E teams go to that Shoreline final,” Lundgren said. “As much as it hurt for us to lose that game, it was comforting to see their future teammates for Districts come away with a title. We all had fun with the post game festivities together; they were fantastic. It was the first time we merged with Essex to form a Majors team, and it was really a good merger.”

As the boys truly symbolized the spirit of their surrounding towns and communities, they each garnered strengthened attributes within America’s Pastime while learning the true value of squad synergy and championing critical lessons that will linger throughout their lives and serve them quite well in the future.

“As coaches, we want them to be progressing as not only athletes but also people who represent our communities,” said Lundgren. “We want them to be representative of these fantastic local communities on the field. They really progressed as the year went on and developed skills that will help them in baseball and life.”

While the boys certainly had their fill of fun for the entirety of the season, they additionally discovered the responsibilities that come into preparing for each practice and game, which included not only taking proper reps in the grass, but also taking essential extra time to review and refresh themselves on new regulations.

“With my son being on the team, this was the first year I was involved with coaching the Majors Division, and the level of competition here is significantly better than in the lower division we saw prior,” said Lundgren. “It was great to see how competitive not only the kids were throughout the division, but also how the coaches were. The kids learned they needed to be sharp, know the rules, and be on top of their game every day.”

Competing for the squad this year were young sluggers in Luca Raney, Dylan Nye, Jack Dunsing, Nick Miers, Sawyer Castellano, Zander Bubie, Jasper Stack, Broden Schulte, Ethan Scherber, Sebby Raney, and Joshua Lundgren. Lundgren was joined by assistant coaches Elliott Dunsing and Joe Castellano.

“The coaching for this team was really a collaborative effort,” said Lundgren. “The season also showed the coaches that we had to sharpen up on the rules changes and employ more advanced strategies as well.”