SPORTS WRAP
By Wally Boyette and William Hathaway, Jr.
Photos By Wally Boyette and Roland Tucker
NEWARK – The Monte Irvin Baseball Classic was held July 14 – 16 at the Weequahic Park Baseball Complex in Newark. The tournament was hosted by the Monte Irvin and Jackie Robinson Newark baseball organizations. Under the direction of Wally Boyett, Donna Judd and a host of volunteers, the tournament included 14 teams from New York to Trenton and although Sunday’s Championship games were rained out several teams presented themselves well throughout the tournament.
At the 14u level, the Trenton Elite Giants was the most dominant team allowing three runs in three games, while scoring 36 runs. They looked like the class of the 14u division. At the 16u level Legit Baseball (East Rutherford) and Makina Baseball Academy (Newark) looked like champion game contenders. In the 18u division, Newark RBI, and QN Comets (Queens, NY) look to be on a path to the championship game. But the Silk City Sluggers, (Paterson) were right there!
The Monte Irvin Baseball Classic Opening Ceremony was attended by Essex County Board of Commissioners President Wayne Richardson and Newark South Ward Councilman Pat Council who both spoke words of encouragement to the players and threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Although a true champion was not crowned, the Monte Irvin Baseball Classic was a win without winning!
This past weekend in Orange, St. Matthews Church hosted their annual Bridging The Gap 3 on 3 Streetball Tournament. This has been an annual event in Orange but was interrupted during the pandemic. The sixth edition of the event was held at Central Playground this past weekend, with age groups ranging from 13-18.
Among the teams taking part were the following was The Dream Team, Prime Time, Team God, Big 0 Warriors, The Church God’s Plan, and Team Orange. This year’s champion was The Dream Team, winning the title over Prime Time. MVP honors went to Darius Phillips from The Dream Team, who finished as the leading scorer overall. Kysir Green was the second high scorer and led Prime Time in the loss.
In other news, for the first time in a decade, the National League beat the American League 3-2 in the All-Star Game. Rockies catcher Elias Diaz, who hit the go-ahead homer, was named MVP in Seattle.
Finally, the New York Giants failed to reach an agreement on a long-term contract with running back Saquon Barkley, meaning that a long holdout may be coming.
