[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 24178]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              IN RECOGNITION OF THE NAAMANS LITTLE LEAGUE

 Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Biden and 
myself, I congratulate Coaches Joe Mascelli, Bob Waters and H.J. Lopes, 
and the Naamans Little League team. Their accomplishment of becoming 
the first Delaware team to reach the Little League World Series 
demonstrates the success that comes from hard work, perseverance, 
dedicated coaching, and the support of parents and fans.
  The Little League World Series, held during the month of August in 
Williamsport, PA, ended a dramatic, record-breaking season for the 
Naamans Little League team. The Delaware State champions and Mid-
Atlantic regional champions final overall record through district, 
state, regional, and world series play was 14-3. They finished their 
world series experience at 1-2, with a win over Iowa and losses to 
Arizona and Texas.
  This year, the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship team consisted of 
12 players: Jarad Carney, Kevin Czachorowski, Scott Dougherty, Cory 
Firmani, Constantine Fournaris, Danny Frate, Michael Julian, Zack 
Lopes, Tim Marcin, Dave Mastro, Vince Russomagno, and Kip Skibicki.
  Coach Mascelli said his team gained a lot from this experience, both 
on the field and off the field. One of the highlights was the 
tremendous outpouring of fan support, not just from residents of 
Delaware, but also from people around the nation and the world. They 
were flooded with letters and emails from states across the nation, 
including California, and countries as far away as Germany. Coach 
Mascelli also said his players received an education beyond baseball. 
They all handled their celebrity status with the public and the media 
with a maturity well beyond their years. The team's objective at the 
Little League World Series was to represent the state of Delaware with 
class and dignity. We are proud to say that the Naamans team 
accomplished just that.
  Today, we congratulate the Naamans Little League and coaches 
Mascelli, Lopes, and Waters. They accomplished something that no other 
Delaware team has done, and they made each one of us proud.

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