Hewlett-Woodmere softball team reaches Little League World Series for first time
A 10-and-under all-star squad became the first team in league history to qualify for the Williamsport tournament, five years after the girls' program was rebuilt from scratch.
A Hewlett-Woodmere Little League 10-and-under softball all-star team became the first squad in the league's history to qualify for the Little League Softball World Series in Williamsport, according to the Nassau Herald. The team lost its first two games of the double elimination tournament last month, falling to Rockville Centre on June 24 and to Oceanside the next day, ending its run.
League president Mike Savin, who coached the team, said girls' softball had disappeared from the Hewlett-Woodmere league for more than a decade before volunteers rebuilt the program starting in 2021, recruiting players and forming teams. He said reaching Williamsport this year, even with an early exit, marked a first for the league. "They'll forever be known as the first girls' team from our league to ever compete in this tournament," he said.
Savin, who has coached in the league for eight years and coached all three of his daughters, said the roster reflects a community split roughly evenly between public school and private school students. "It's so nice to see Orthodox Jewish girls playing with public school girls," he said. His youngest daughter, Isabella, 9, pitched for the all-star team and said she valued playing alongside girls she had previously faced as opponents.
Other players on the team included catcher Elizabeth Plunkett, 10, who joined this season because her friends played, and Chana Rosenberg, 10, a pitcher and first baseman who has played since first grade and described the tournament atmosphere as intense.