St. James/Smithtown credits 'pregame meditation' for success at Little League World Series Metro Regionals
Jeremy Katz, scoring during Monday’s win, and Kevin Moran have gotten the whole team involved in their pregame ritual. Credit: Douglas Healey
The St. James/Smithtown 12U baseball team has put itself in a position to relax for a few days.
After winning its first two games of the Little League World Series Metro Region Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, the Bulls are off until Friday’s championship, which will air on ESPN at 7 p.m. They will face the winner of Wednesday’s elimination game between Fairfield National (Connecticut) and Jackson Holbrook (New Jersey).
The winner of Friday’s championship game advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, beginning on Aug. 13.
Fittingly, one of the Bulls’ keys to their success in this tournament has been relaxation. Thanks to the pregame rituals of Kevin Moran and Jeremy Katz, the entire St. James/Smithtown team has been exposed to meditation.
Before the team’s tournament opener, an 18-0 win over Burrillville (Rhode Island), manager Scott Santelli said the team did a pregame meditation for about 10 minutes to get some jitters out. He knew that Moran and Katz liked to meditate before games, so he figured the whole team should do it.
“We were all very nervous," Katz said. "It’s the first game in regionals. You don’t want to lose because you’ll be in a bad spot and have to come out of the loser’s bracket. The whole team, we were all goofing around earlier in the day, but everybody was silent and locked in during the meditation, so it was a real accomplishment.”
“We’ll be doing that every day now,” Santelli said after Saturday’s rout.
Moran began meditating earlier in the summer and has been reaping the benefits since.
“Before our first game, me and my dad were just tired, so we went and did a meditation,” Moran said. “Then he looked up baseball meditations. We found it and we did it before our first game. I hit a home run that game and then we just kept doing it.”
Katz began meditating during the state tournament. He gave the pregame ritual a lot of credit for his two-homer performance and nine-strikeout gem in the state final.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve been tense and trying too hard. I’m just gonna give it a shot,’ ” Katz said. “It really helped a lot. I’d recommend it to anybody.”
There are several baseball meditations available online for free. Some are designed for hitters and some are specifically for pitchers. Many meditations will include a breathing exercise to get a player to relax his body, along with reciting positive affirmations and envisioning himself performing at his best.
“(The meditation I followed) was about hitting and having a positive mindset at the plate, but it helped my pitching as well,” Katz said.
Moran and Katz have been locked in at the plate and on the mound in Bristol. Katz is 4-for-5 with three doubles and six RBIs, and struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings on Saturday. Moran has struck out four and allowed one hit across three innings in two relief appearances. He is 5-for-5 with a walk, three RBIs and six runs.
“This is the best I’ve seen Kevin hit,” Santelli said. “I’ve had this kid for five years. He’s just seeing the ball extremely well lately.”
Lucas Kostas was one of the many to first experience a pregame meditation on Saturday. He went 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
“It felt really good,” Kostas said. “I felt really calm going into the game. I felt relaxed, so I actually really liked it.”
Kostas added an RBI double in Monday’s 6-1 win over Fairfield National. It was one of four RBI hits with two outs in the win. Katz produced a two-out, two-run double and Ryan Delgado had two RBI singles with two outs.
“There were a couple of spots where we had two outs and then the top of our lineup got on for me and I drove them in, and then Delgado steps up and drives me in,” Katz said. “It’s just a big help in getting insurance runs for your pitchers.”
With the biggest game of their lives on the horizon, the Bulls will have plenty of time to meditate any nervous energy away.
“We can all just relax and think about what we can do to help our team in the next game,” Katz said. “We also have three days to play Wiffle ball, so we’re gonna have some fun. I think we’re all really excited to play in the last game.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
Long Island's Own
