West Hartford’s 8U travel baseball team came back for the win in the tournament finals.

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The West Hartford 8U travel team captured the 2026 Beth-Wood Friendship Tournament championship on Friday, July 24, defeating previously undefeated Fairfield National Little League, 8-7, in a thrilling title game in Woodbridge.

Backed by a strong defensive effort and cheered on by a large crowd of family and friends, West Hartford rallied from an early deficit to secure the championship. Fairfield National held a 7-6 lead after two innings, but West Hartford’s defense shut the door the rest of the way, holding Fairfield scoreless over the final four innings.

West Hartford scored the game’s final two runs in the fifth inning, taking the lead for good when Colby Stubbs delivered a clutch RBI single that scored Alex Morris with the go-ahead run.

The championship capped an impressive six-week tournament run. West Hartford finished 7-1 in pool play, with its only loss coming against Avon A. The team opened single-elimination play on Friday, June 17 with a 13-8 victory over Nonnewaug under the lights at Wolcott Park before traveling to Woodbridge three times in five days to complete its championship run.

In the quarterfinals, West Hartford defeated host Beth-Wood All-Stars, 12-2. The semifinal featured a rematch against Avon A, where West Hartford erased a deficit with a resilient comeback in the fifth and sixth innings to earn a 13-7 victory and advance to the championship game.

Members of the championship team are Luke Galin, Finn Gallo, Tommy Jarrett, Brandon Lau, Alex Morris, Brendan Ritter, Victor Rodriguez, Emanuel Sepulveda, Henry Siegal, Colby Stubbs, Matthew Thompson, Luke Vincent and Ari Weiner.

The team was led by manager Matthew Weiner and assistant coaches Matthew Gallo, Alan Lau, Greg Ritter and Jed Siegal.

The 19-team tournament was hosted by the Beth-Wood Baseball League and this year’s win marks the third Beth-Wood Friendship Tournament Championship for West Hartford’s 8U Travel program. The program also won tournament titles in 2016 and 2017, with many of those players graduating from high school this past spring.

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