By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Early on at practice on Sunday evening, Atlantic Shore Babe Ruth 14-year-old coach Dave Geiger had to get a little tough on his boys to get them to focus. There was a giddy mood even before practice, as the boys cajoled on the side of the dugout and poked fun at each other for the poses they struck while having their pictures taken. Easy to understand why they were giddy. They are 14-year-old boys who four days later would be on their way to Pine Bluff, Ark., for the biggest baseball tournament of their lives. This year’s 14-year-old all-star team is the third since 2011 to earn a berth to the Babe Ruth World Series. The boys and their contingent of coaches, parents and fans will begin making their way to The Natural State today and will be representing the Middle Atlantic region. They open up pool play on Saturday at 11 a.m. against Pacific Southwest. “It’s really neat. I was talking to Mike DeCicco, who coaches the freshman team at Mainland, and he was saying that you can see this group really blends together well. They are loose, of course kids will be kids, and they have fun together,” said head coach Dave Geiger, who has nearly 30 years of experience coaching youth baseball. “I got to watch this team play last year, and I got to see them play Little League. When these kids were 10 years old, Northfield won the state title and there are six Northfield kids on this team. And when they were 12 years old, Ocean City won the district and I have two kids from that team. I could see this coming together since they were little kids. It’s a perfect mesh.” Atlantic Shore was dominant during the regional tournament, going 4-0 in pool play while allowing a tournament-best 11 runs against. The team then slipped past Kingsbridge, Metro New York, 2-1 in the semifinals after getting a bye through the quarterfinals. In the championship game, Atlantic Shore blasted West End, of Williamsport, Pa., 11-1 to win the championship. 
Atlantic Shore Babe Ruth 14U all-star Brandon Lashley, of Ocean City, makes a play during practice on Sunday. Lashley and his teammates are heading to Arkansas today and will begin play in the Babe Ruth World Series on Saturday morning. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “At first we were all screaming and excited, and on the ride home it hit us that we were really going to Arkansas,” said Brandon Lashley, a 14-year-old shortstop from Ocean City. “I never thought this was going to happen. I don’t even know how to explain it. We were just so happy and talking the whole time. I didn’t sleep the whole ride home until about midnight.” “We are all really excited to go. It’s crazy how it happened this year. We thought it would happen next year in 15U and not this year. We just have a bunch of kids from last year, and just built up and put them in the right positions. Our pitching is crazy. It’s really good,” added catcher Nick Atohi, a 15-year-old from Northfield who is a rising sophomore at Mainland Regional. Second baseman Solomon Griffith, a 14-year-old from Ocean City, said much of the credit for the team’s success has to go to the coaching staff of Geiger, his 22-year-old son Lee, and Dennis Foreman, who’s son Kevin was the starting shortstop for the 13-year-old Atlantic Shore all-stars who made it to the regionals this summer. “People know I play on this team and they are congratulating me wherever I go. It’s a nice thing. Last year we made it to the regional semifinal and we were two runs away from winning that game. Atlantic Shore is a good program. It’s one of the best around here,” Griffith said. “This team right here, pretty much 90 percent of the credit goes to the coaches. They come out here every day, they aren’t getting paid for this, they are volunteering. It’s a great thing.” Dave Geiger said he knew this group of boys had a chance to do something special this summer if they took care of business, both during games and at practice. “I told the kids at our first practice that we weren’t going to be happy just going to the states or going to the regionals. We’re going to the world series. If you buy into our program, that’s the exact wording of it, if you buy into it, you’ll go to the world series. And they bought in. We kept them focused, and after (winning regionals) I asked them, ‘are we done yet?’ and they all said, ‘nope!'” Geiger said. “The other two Atlantic Shore teams that made it weren’t able to get out of pool play, so we want to get out of pool play, get into those single elimination games, and bring it home. That’s our attitude, don’t be happy with what we have, be happy when we are done.” 
Second baseman Solomon Griffith, of Ocean City, said a lot of credit for the team’s success has to go to veteran youth baseball coach Dave Geiger, his son, Lee, and assistant coach Dennis Foreman. The past week or so has been hectic for the players, coaches and parents, trying to raise funds to help off-set the travel costs as well as get all the travel plans arranged. The team plans to fly out of Philadelphia today in order to have a full day in Arkansas before starting the world series on Saturday morning. “We’re just trying to figure out how we are getting there. Our parents are really nervous about how to get there. My mom doesn’t know what she’s going to do yet,” Atohi said at Sunday’s practice. “Most people don’t get the chance to play alongside kids from other towns and meet new people. And the community has been great. We were at a fundraiser (at Wonder Bar in Atlantic City) and I didn’t think there were going to be that many people there, and everywhere I looked there were people out there supporting us,” Lashley said. They players said they are glad all their hard work is paying off and has given them an opportunity to have a great experience to close out their summer. “We worked really hard for quite a few months and it’s a good thing to see our work pay off. Our whole team was ready to play (at regionals). I think it’s important that we represent our region in the world series,” Griffith said. “It’s been a lot of baseball. We’ve had a lot of 3-hour practices and we’ve been working hard to get stuff done. From the beginning we had a goal of getting to Arkansas. Coach (Geiger) said we would get there if we worked hard. We believed him, worked hard, came out here and practiced in the heat and gave up time we could have spent doing other things, and just worked hard and made it,” Lashley said. “I think we have a really good team and a chance to really do something.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Atlantic Shore 14U all-stars thrilled to have opportunity to travel to Arkansas for Babe Ruth World Series
