Elm City Hawks Bring Home The Gold

The Elm City Hawks baseball team was charged with delivering a gold medal to City Hall. On Friday it delivered a message to Mayor Toni Harp: mission accomplished.

While it might have been raining water outside, it was raining ​“ticker tape” inside City Hall as the reigning Nutmeg State Games baseball champions were feted for bringing home that gold medal.

After a crowd serenaded them with ​“Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” several of the members got to strut the length of the City Hall atrium’s carpet proudly displaying their gold medals on their chests.

“The experience was good,” 17-year-old,third baseman Jensey Padilla (pictured) said. ​“We played hard the whole game. That’s what we wanted and we did it.”

The Elm City Hawks did it — and how.

The champs — teens like Jensey who are 18 and under from all over the city — had an excellent showing in New Britain where the games were held. The statewide games are the largest Olympic-style amateur multi-sport sporting event in Connecticut. (Read here about a previous sendoff held for the Hawks at city hall.)

“We did not lose a game,” team scout Ana Winn said as she presented a gold medal to Mayor Harp. The team played four games, and it didn’t just beat their competition. It wiped the ball field with them.

It beat the Madison 9 – 2 and Simsbury 10 – 4. The last two games, one of which was the gold medal game, was a double header. The Hawks beat Fairfield 11 – 2. They won an all the marbles championship 10 – 0 against Simsbury.

“They called it off in the fifth inning because we mercied them,” Winn said, drawing a cheer from the crowd. ​“I thank the team for bringing home the gold like we promised.”

Luis Galarza, a 16-year-old center fielder, said that the team’s strong showing put teams on notice about how talented the players from the Elm City are.

“We’re going to go back next year and do the same thing,” he said. ​“They better be intimidated.”