Team’s success ‘a real big deal’
A group of Allentown teens are leading the Lehigh Valley RBI team into the national playoffs
The Allen and Dieruff baseball teams have struggled for years. This past season, the Canaries went 5-15 and the Huskies were 2-18. They were a combined 3-29 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
But help might be on the way. The Lehigh Valley RBI junior 15U team went 4-0 this month in Philadelphia, winning the Mid-Atlantic championship in the tournament hosted by the Phillies RBI program.
By winning the regional title, the team earned a trip this week to Vero Beach, Florida, where they will be in a national event featuring other regional champions throughout the country.
RBI stands for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities. It’s a youth baseball program operated by Major League Baseball with an initiative designed to provide young people from underserved and diverse communities the opportunity to play baseball and softball.
What’s make the Lehigh Valley team special is that 13 of the kids on the team are from Allentown. The other two are from Nazareth.
The team, which is guided by Allen coach Rob Leskosky, beat the Durham Bulls twice, the Baltimore Orioles RBI team and the defending regional champion Williamsport team.
Lehigh Valley will play in the RBI World Series at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, formerly the spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“This is phenomenal and a real big deal for these kids,” Leskosky said. “This program started in 2018 and in that first year we just wanted to be representative and not look like a bunch of fools and get annihilated. We made it to the championship game and lost to Philly, which ended up making it to the finals of the World Series. So we had a real good team that year and other years we’ve been at least .500. This year we have a really
talented group of 14- and 15-yearolds from Allentown and we sort of threw this team together.”
Lehigh Valley beat Williamsport 7-4 in its opener and topped Durham 6-0 and the Orioles 5-3 to get to the title game, where the locals won a 1-0 thriller over Durham.
“The fact that 13 of the kids are from Allentown is what makes it so special,” Leskosky said. “They are very excited. Let’s be honest, the Allen and Dieruff kids don’t win nearly as much as some of the other kids from throughout the Lehigh Valley. So winning is a big deal and getting this opportunity to go on a special trip like this is also special for them. Their flights and hotel rooms will be taken care of, and most of their meals. They will also get to see the Marlins play a home game and ironically they’ll be playing the Phillies.”
Leskosky said the team has already won no matter what happens in the World Series.
“Even if they lose every game they play, this experience will be something these kids will want to remember for the rest of their lives,” Leskosky said. “They’ll never have an experience like this again.”
“Even though MLB is taking care of a lot of the expenses, the team would happily accept donations to cover things like their
baggage and food on the flights down and also at the Marlins game,” Leskosky said. “We’ll also want Gatorade and other things. For these kids to have to pull money out of their pockets at the last second is obviously tough. St. Luke’s is going to help us with some things, but we could still use some help.”
The team leaves Monday and play a minimum of six games regardless of its record in pool
play and will be at Vero Beach for the entire week.
The team is in the same pool as Castle Hill NIKE RBI from the Bronx, New York; the Miami Marlins NIKE RBI from Miami; and the Dodgers Dream Team from Los Angeles. Lehigh Valley opens the tournament at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday against Castle Hill.
Team members include Anell De La Rosa, Jorge Inoa, Davien Orozco, JC Varela, Durell Holden,
Emmanuel Herrera, Jose Madera, Bryce Arfanella, Erick Lopez Mejia, Tucker Heiser, Oscar Roa Vargas, Daniel Rivas, Daniel Liz Madera, Evan Shak and Josh Reyes.
Lesko is assisted by Kyle Valentino, Ramon Castillo, and Michael Gonzalez.
Those interested in helping the Lehigh Valley team kids can contact Leskosky at rleskosky43@ gmail.com.