Levittown softball team ready for Ruth WS

The Levittown Slammers softball team begins its quest for the Babe Ruth World Series title Saturday night in Lamar, Colo.

The team traveled all day and into the evening Thursday to make it to Lamar, a city of just under 8,000 in southeast Colorado. Once their flight arrived in Denver, with a transfer in Dallas, a nearly four-hour bus ride awaited the weary 16-and-under girls team.

"It was exhausting, let's put it that way," team captain Sabrina Gordek said. "During the whole trip, we couldn't wait to get here. On the plane rides, none of us could sleep."

But the magnitude of the tournament hit the team when the players got a look at the championship trophy. "I'll be honest," manager Mike Gordek said. "We saw the World Series trophy. They did it all in glass. It's gorgeous. That's an incentive by itself."

Wantagh's Ashley Massoni will start the Slammers' tournament opener Saturday (8 p.m.) against the East Central All-Stars, the state champion from Burlington, Colo. The Slammers will play three more games in pool play the next three days, and if they finish as one of the top three teams in their five-team division, they will advance to the double-elimination tournament format that begins Wednesday. -- EVAN KORN