The Jefferson Parish, La., team was riding a high last year when it won the Babe Ruth 14-year-old division World Series in Quincy, Mass.
Two days later, their lives were turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina.
Now, many of those same players are in Clifton Park this week trying to become the first team to win both the 14- and 15-year-old division championships. And though their lives are still not what they once were, the players are happy to be back together.
Katrina hasn’t affected our baseball team in any way, said pitcher/infielder Harold Toscano. We’re not back in our houses, but baseball-wise, everything’s fine. We’re just back to normal.`
Jefferson Parish had a lot of success last year. Not only did the 14-year-old team win the World Series, but the 15-year-old division team coached by Bill Babin also claimed the national title.
Babin’s team was home from its championship run in Abbeyville when Katrina began bearing down on the Louisiana-Mississippi coastline. Meanwhile, the 14-year-old division team was making its run to the title.
`I was home pulling in all of my stuff that could blow away when the coach called me and told me they had won the 14-year-old World Series,` said Babin.
As the hurricane drew closer, flights were no longer allowed to land at Louis Armstrong International Airport, which is located in Jefferson Parish. So, the 14-year-old All-Stars were diverted to Dallas, where they watched the destruction of New Orleans on TV.
`They were showing around Lake Ponchatrain, which we don’t really live by,` said catcher Mason Katz. `So, we really didn’t think it was all that bad until we got home and realized that we couldn’t go home.`
Like most of the New Orleans metropolitan area, Jefferson Parish ` located west of downtown New Orleans ` was heavily damaged by Katrina. However, it was spared the worst of the flooding because it was located far enough away from the levees that breached along the canals in the city. That allowed its residents to begin the cleanup process earlier than those in neighboring parishes.
`Jefferson Parish was the first one that was hit that was really back up and running,` said Babin. `So most of the people were able to get into their homes, get FEMA trailers and put them in their front yards or live on the upstairs while they were trying to get their downstairs redone.`
Still, the rebuilding process has been slow. Toscano and his family have yet to move back into their home because the inside has to be rebuilt.
`We had a lot of roof damage, so the rain got in. They had to gut the whole house,` said Toscano.
Then, there was the Babe Ruth complex in Metarie. Katrina hit the fields hard, leaving the league officials with a large rebuilding task.
`All the fences were knocked down, (and) the light poles were broken,` said Katz. `So, we had to use just basic open fields until our fields got back together, but they were back to normal around baseball season.`
Having the fields ready for the spring season helped restore a small sense of normalcy to the players, many of whom were scattered because their homes were damaged.
`It brought all the kids back together, which was just like normal,` said Katz.
Not all of the players on this year’s 15-year-old team were part of the 2005 14-year-old division championship squad, but enough of them are back to give Jefferson Parish squad the advantage of having a veteran lineup in a field where most teams are playing in a national tournament for the first time.
`They didn’t get out of pool play as 13s, but they won it as 14s,` said Babin. `I think they learned as 13s what it takes to win, and I think they realize as 15s that everyone is gunning for us.`
Already, this year’s tournament has proven to be harder for Jefferson Parish than last year’s run in the 14-year-old World Series. Jefferson Parish had to come from behind to edge South Colonie 4-3 last Friday and then lost to Kelso, Wash., 9-6 last Saturday. It had two games remaining in pool play ` a Monday meeting with Youngstown, Ohio, and a Tuesday contest against Portland, Maine.
Despite the early setback, Jefferson Parish is maintaining the confidence level of a team that has been through the war before and won.
`We’re not worried about (being the target). We’ll just keep playing the way we’ve played the last two years,` said Katz.
`I think the kids are pretty resilient,` said Babin. `I think they want to win this because no 14-year-old team has ever repeated as a 15-year-old champion, more than they want to do it for Katrina. We have a lot of people back home that are really pulling for us, and I think for the people back home, it’s a good diversion from the everyday Katrina misery that you have to face day in and day out in New Orleans. I know the kids want to win for them, but I think they want to win more for the repeat.“