Sports

Two Oakland Softball Teams Bring Home Championship Honors

Recreation travel teams won titles in the Midland Park Summer League championship.

Mirroring the success of the Indian Hills softball program's march to a 2013 championship season filled with scores of accolades, two Oakland travel teams took home titles this weekend in nail biter victories against squads from Northern Valley.

The Oakland recreation program has been termed a "feeder program" for the record setting Indian Hills Braves. Four travel teams from Oakland, "all star teams" from the rec program, play in the Midland Park Summer League from June to late July each year.

The 12UA division team, one of the divisions comprised of 12 to 13-year olds, inched past #1 ranked Northern Valley 7-6 to claim the division championship. Under manager Neil Malmud and Coach Jerry Stocker, the team wrapped up the season with a record of 21-5.

The 12UB division in the same age group won the "National League" title against an undefeated Northern Valley team in a 3-2 victory, but fell to Westwood in the division championship game. Under coaches Candice Oltmanns, Jim Murphy, Lisa Dent and Krystal Brugger the team held a 15-2 overall record in the league's summer play.

The Braves third and fourth grade division team also fared well, earning a 12-3 record through the season and advancing to the semi-finals in the championship tournament.

"I'm very proud of the great job our commissioner [Dan Logatto], coaches and players do to contribute to this amazing and successful program," rec commissioner Mike Guadagnino said. "Oakland Softball is known as the 'Feeder Program' because of the overwhelming number of girls that...graduate to play with the Indian Hills High School Softball Champions.

"There is a lot of work that goes into making a program so special, and Oakland Softball has that formula."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here