JJ Palumbo of the Camelot Knights working on a hitting drill pic.twitter.com/5TkbGkTuss
Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 20, 2018
One of the keys to team success is continuity–especially at the younger levels.
The Camelot Knights have built their program’s success with this principle and their players are still only 11-years-old.
“We go to battle with the same kids every week,” said Joe Palumbo, Director of the Camelot Knights. “The nucleus of this team has legitimately played together since they were 8-years-old. This is a group of friends that will be friends in 20 years and when they’re old and gray will be talking about these days on Facebook,” he said jokingly.
What he does not joke about is the rapid ascension of the organization.
What initially started out as one team that was formed after frustration with the lack of progression of their little league, has now expanded into seven teams. They are coming off a very successful season in which the two teams at the 10U level played in 75 games and won a number of tournaments including the Tommy Lasorda Summer Showdown at Baseball Heaven and Future Stars in Hershey, PA. This was while playing up a year.
Head Coach Dom Del Vecchio spoke glowingly of the quality of his players and the effort they put in this past year to achieve that success.
He noted the team was led by Jordan Babbo, who paced the team in all major offensive categories including batting AVG, HR and RBI.
“He’s our No. 2 hitter, plays first baseman and is very consistent at the plate,” he stated.
He was far from the only contributor on the team, though.
“JJ Palumbo is our catcher and No. 3 hitter. He was also at the top of every offensive statistical category. Nick Del Vecchio is our SS, bats lead off and hits left handed and he was towards the top in all statistical categories as well.”
Other players that played crucial roles on the team is Zach Rosenzweig, Zaim Deljanin and Ryan Kurz. The latter two anchored the staff and were counted on to pitch in big games. Speaking about his two dominant pitchers, Del Vecchio stated that they “both work well off each other. One is a lefty, the other a righty. They both change speeds, hit their locations and change eye levels.”
Palumbo noted that the core of the team is comprised of players from Central Nassau (East Meadow, Clarke and Bellmore school districts).
The team grew so accustomed to winning that they often planned their weekends assuming they would play more than the minimum three games in a tournament. “If you’re in Indiana for the weekend and you lose after three games, what are you going to do then?”
Often times they played into the championship games of tournaments, resulting in lots of full weekends with travel.
They are not complaining about that.
“If we only play our scheduled 60-game season, that means we didn’t do our jobs,” said Palumbo, alluding to the fact that playing in championships adds to the season total of games, which is why they finished with a 75-game season.
The other 10U team, coached by Terence Hohlman also was successful. They are also comprised of many players from the central Nassau area. Del Vecchio named a number of players that contributed to their great 2017 season: Nick Berasti, Sebastian Perez, Brady Hohlman, Kyle Carter, Kevin Canto, T.J. Wallace and Jordan Cassuto.
Aside from the success on the field, the boys all contributed their time to the needy as well.
During the season, six of the players went to a homeless shelter and helped stocked the pantries and helped prepare meals.
“That’s the type of kids they are,” said Del Vecchio, adding that “they didn’t do it to get noticed they did it because they wanted to help.”
This year they are looking to do something with physically-challenged kids as well.
As for the upcoming season, the boys are all working hard during their winter workouts at Max Effort Baseball in Farmingdale with their coaches including highly-regarded hitting instructor Brad Jackson.
They are excited to send three of their teams to compete in the big Cooperstown tournament. Del Vecchio noted this will be a big year for the players as they prepare to play on the big fields.
“Genetics will play a big part at the next level, but with the amount of ball they’re playing they have a jump up on some other kids their age. Travel ball has changed the game, if you are not competing at a top level, it’s hard to get noticed,” he added.
From a business standpoint, both gentlemen noted that they have been approached with the prospect of expanding the organization, but they have approached that idea very cautiously.
“We want to make sure that when we make that jump our product is just as good as it is at the younger levels.”
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