Haddonfield Little League team wins first-ever state championship

A parade through the streets of Haddonfield, New Jersey, Thursday evening celebrated the U11 Haddonfield Little League State Champions.

On Sunday in Wallington, Haddonfield beat Toms River 9-5 in Game 6. Officials believe this is the first-ever state title for a Haddonfield Little League team.

"It's a really big thing for our town and these kids," said coach Frank DeLano.

Delano says the team showed tremendous resilience throughout the season, but this is about more than just baseball.

"It's lifelong memories. It's friendships. It's relationships and to watch their faces -- a bunch of 11 year olds -- go from ear to ear smiling just with pure joy. That's worth all the time and effort that those kids have put in," Delano said.

After Thursday's parade, team members, their families and community members gathered for pictures and kept the celebration going. They young boys held up banners and proudly showed off their championship hardware.

"I'm just so happy, we worked so hard to get here," said 11-year-old Finn Hadden.

"I think it's just so fun hanging out with my friends playing a game that I love to play," said Hadden. "We just haven't gave up, like we went into a lot of extra innings baseball games and we haven't gave up, and we ended up winning those games because we just worked really hard and never give up."

After the celebrations, it was back to work on the practice field as Haddonfield now prepares to take on Vermont in the Eastern Regionals. That game will be played Saturday, July 27, in Beverly, Massachusetts at 1 p.m.