Half Hollow Hills Little League Takes To Citi Field

By Andrew Wroblewski

awroblewski@longislandergroup.com

Members of the Half Hollows Little League were taken to Cit Field to watch the New York Mets play ball.

Even though they’re minors, the boys and girls of the Half Hollow Hills Little League got a taste of what it’s like to walk with the majors on Friday.

During their annual trip to Citi Field for New York Mets Little League day, players, parents and coaches from Half Hollow Hills Little League stormed the Queens ballpark for a pregame parade around the field, plenty of peanuts and crackerjacks and nine innings of Mets baseball.

“This is always a great night; it’s so exciting to see the joy on the kids’ faces… It really doesn’t get old,” Steven Muraco, league president, said.

Proceeds from the 350 tickets sold by Half Hollow Hills Little Leaguers, he said, will go towards maintaining the league’s 14 fields at Otsego Park in Dix Hills.

“These nights are important to us,” Muraco said.

For their efforts, Half Hollow Hills members were the first in a long line of Little Leaguers that got the chance to walk from the left field gate, down the third base line, behind home plate and up to the right field exit before the Mets took on the Nationals in a divisional contest.

Afterwards, there was a mad dash for the second deck on the right field line as swarms of caps, t-shirts and jackets sporting the Half Hollow Hills logo anxiously sought their seats.

Settled in with popcorn, soda, hot dogs and more, the smiling faces of the Half Hollow Hills Little Leaguers made their way onto the Citi Field LED scoreboard as, between innings, the section was featured and sparked a “Let’s go Mets!” chant that rang throughout the ballpark and into the surrounding Queens area.

The chant may have also rang with Mets’ left fielder Michael Cuddyer who, just an inning later, belted a solo home run to give New York its winning run in what proved to be a 4-0 win over Washington.