Sid Fernando recounts the Bulldogs’ triumph

The Brooklyn Bulldogs 10-and-under youth baseball travel team went to Myrtle Beach, S.C., last month as a contender in the Triple Crown Sports Summer Nationals; they returned to Park Slope as the national champion. The pride of the 78th Precinct lost their first game and then ran the table, defeating five straight opponents and carting home the national crown. Bulldogs manager Sid Fernando traces the team’s trajectory, and explains what made their bite so strong.

“The tournament started with two seeding games, and then it switched to single-game elimination the rest of the way through. We were seeded seventh and we played the No. 1-seed North Wake Hurricanes. They beat us 10-8 in extra innings, but we didn’t lose again. We came back to win our second seeding game, 21-18 over the eighth-seeded Piedmont Braves from North Carolina. We only play six innings, and they led 13-5 in the fifth inning. We rallied and won, 21-18.

The games’ scores were so high because all teams were saving their aces for elimination games. The game was also significant because we ran our side and (Piedmont) ran their side in single-elimination, and our teams wound up meeting in the championship.

In the finals against Piedmont, we had Rafael Quezada – our ace in the hole. He’s one of the hardest-throwing 10-year-olds out there. He can get up to 70 mph. He pitched a complete game and had two RBI. My son Joe Fernando went 2-for-3 and scored two runs. Brandon Leftwich went 2-for-3 with an RBI, too, and we won, 4-1. It was thrilling.”