- Dan Fappiano
- 5 days ago
With their red jerseys and black pants rather than the traditional blue and white, it may have been difficult to recognize the Southington 10U SeaBreeze team at first. But by the end of their summer season, this year’s squad was unmistakable as they etched themselves into Southington history.
The 2025 campaign marked the first time Southington took part in SeaBreeze play. The team of 12 was made up of players 10-years-old and younger from North, South and West little league. Eric Butkiewicz was tasked with being Southington’s inaugural head coach. He saw it as a great way to give kids more opportunities to play summer baseball.
“Looking to the future, this is definitely something worth considering for Southington,” Butkiewicz said. “There are multiple levels with multiple age groups. It gives more kids summer baseball. It gives kids a chance that want to keep playing after the rec season. It speaks volumes about a player that makes an All-Star team.”
The players on this year’s Southington 10U SeaBreeze team are: Mason Tuohey, Nico Brower, Lincoln Butkiewicz, Will Bacon, Camden Kowalski, Ethan Paski, Benjamin Vu, Jack Michalak, Brayden Ryan, Carter Jennings, Landon Neisser and Garrett Grant. Butkiewicz was joined by assistant coaches Tom Brower, Brian Grant and Matt Neiser.
Southington Hits First Speed Bump
The 10U team was hit with immediate difficulties when it came to practice. Due to scheduling, some players couldn’t make every session. One practice was even rained out. Butkiewicz admitted that it was difficult finalizing a team with limited time at their disposal. Still, Southington did everything in their power to enter their summer campaign on the right foot.
“When you see the first couple of games go through, then you start seeing how kids react, how kids respond, what positions suit them,” Butkiewicz said. “We’re learning as we’re going, but we’re also trying to put the best product on the field to make sure we’re competitive and we can win ball games.”
During pool play, Southington competed in six games, three home and three away. In the first five innings of each game, the max amount of runs that can be scored is five per team. But in the sixth inning, runs are uncapped. The 10U SeaBreeze team got their first taste of that sixth inning rule in their opening game.
While Southington put up a fight, they would ultimately fall 26-12 to Milford. Still, Butkiewicz saw it as an opportunity. If the team was able to correct their mistakes and learn from the loss, the head coach was confident Southington would turn things around in a hurry.
“We tried to put what we thought was the best lineup together. It’s almost a trial by error situation in the first game,” Butkiewicz said. “This team was doing pretty well for the first few innings, but then you can start to see, as all the kids on my team are from minors. They weren’t used to the style that was being presented to them on the field.”
“It was a learning thing,” he continued. “You can’t learn from winning, but you can learn and get a better understanding of your team when you’re losing. You can find the mistakes, you can find the errors. It’s almost like correcting on the fly.”
Southington Finds Their Groove
The 10U team adapted quickly, winning their next two games over Stratford (16-14) and Orange (13-11) respectively. Butkiewicz started to see a shift in his team. They were given a short break and were able to get a bit more practice time in. They focused on backing their teammates up, being more aggressive on the basepaths and how and why to bunt among other fundamentals. In all these learning situations Butkiewicz says the team soaked up the information, “like sponges.”
Alongside their work on the diamond, Southington was coming together as a team. Each player began playing for one another and realized the shared goal at hand.
“After the first three games, you could see them coming together,” Biekiewicz said. “You could see them smiling. If someone makes a physical mistake, the other kid will get them and say, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it, get the next one.’ That’s what you look for in a team. They may not know them on the outside of the field, pick them up, they almost become like brothers.”
The 10U team continued their winning ways, earning a pair of victories over Cheshire (13-11) and Annex (13-3). Their matchup against Cheshire showed that Southington wasn’t willing to back down from any difficult battle.
The SeaBreeze squad found themselves trailing by four heading into the top of the sixth inning. With close wins over Stratford and Orange, Butkiewicz reminded the team that they have experienced this moment in the past. That message resonated, as Southington scored six runs in the top of the sixth. Holding Cheshire to just one run in the bottom of the frame, Southington had completed the comeback.
Since day one of practice, Butkiewicz and the coaching staff has instilled a never quit attitude. They believe every at-bat is an opportunity and that under any circumstances, Southington will play the right way. Over time, Butkiewicz saw the squad adapt to a higher level of All-Star competition. Not only was Southington stringing together victories, but they were earning them with their effort every day.
“As these kids are being battle tested, I tell them, ‘We’re always going to be in a dogfight.’ Never quit, never give up and keep hustling,” Butkiewicz said. “I want kids to believe in themselves when they’re playing, as they should believe in themselves.”
Playoff Dreams Come True For 10U
Southington ended pool play with a 10-9 loss to Berlin. However, with their 4-2 record, the team qualified for the SeaBreeze playoffs. It was a goal set forth by Butkiewicz before the team even began play. Now, the 2025 squad has made town history.
“When I got this team, and because it’s the first time Southington has ever been involved in this, being the first team to ever do this, I told all the parents and my coaching staff that getting to the playoffs is the goal,” Butkiewicz said. “When you start a season, when you start anything, always make a goal. Once you obtain that, make another goal. You got to take things one game at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch at a time.”
Entering playoffs as the No. 4 seed, Southington took on No. 1 seed Fairfield National. Butkiewicz and the team knew it was going to be a tough matchup based on their opponent’s overall experience and pool play performance. But when the 10U SeaBreeze team got to the diamond, their head coach had all the players take a moment to breathe and soak it all in.
He wanted them to understand how far they’ve come, and what it meant to be playing in the postseason matchup. The team bought in. After that deep breath, Southington was prepared to prove what led them to the playoffs in the first place.
“When you’re talking to kids in this age group, they’re looking in your eyes, you give them a message that could hit home. They took a deep breath, they looked around, they looked at the field and they kind of just digested it all before the game started,” Butkiewicz said. “It gave us a lot of energy as the game started. It sat with them to say, ‘Hey we’re here and we belong.’”
After Southington put up a run in the first, Fairfield National scored three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame. The 10U squad still battled back, scoring runs in the second and fourth inning to knot things up at three.
However, Fairfield National would strike again, putting up a maximum five-run fourth inning of their own. They’d tack on another three in the fifth, taking down Southington 11-3. After their triumphant run, Southington’s 10U SeaBreeze season was now over.
Following the loss, Butkiewicz admitted that the team was heartbroken, and many players were wearing their hearts on their sleeve. But the sadness was short-lived, as Southington was about to receive a hero’s welcome.
Rather than taking the kids to the outfield after the game, Butkiewicz took them down the third base line where the parents were sitting. As this year’s Southington team arrived, those parents all stood up and began clapping for the players. They acknowledged just how far this team of 12 had gone. Their season may have ended in a loss, but Butkiewicz doesn’t see the Southington 10U SeaBreeze’s debut as anything other than a resounding success.
“Just because we didn’t win the game, the season was still a success,” Butkiewicz said. “From where we started those first couple of practices to going through six very tough games to making playoffs and obtaining the goal, you could see in the parents’ faces that they were extremely happy with how the kids played, worked and came together as a team in such a short span of time.”
Southington Sets New SeaBreeze Precedent
As he went through his first season with the SeaBreeze, Butkiewicz saw each player’s face light up when they were on the field. They didn’t dread practice. Some even slept in their uniforms. The season may have, “gone in the blink of an eye,” but Butkiewicz will never forget the inaugural SeaBreeze campaign.
“We were the first,” Butkiewicz said. “We were the first to do this, we were the first to make playoffs. You can do a lot of things in this life as you get older. But to say you’re the first, it speaks volumes. The kids can always look back, if this is still around when they have kids and they’re playing baseball, and say, ‘I was 10 years old, I was on the first team to do this.’ These kids had fun.”
Still no older than 10-years old, Butkiewicz wants every player involved to learn from this SeaBreeze season and take it with them as they continue their baseball careers and lives. It may have been just their first year competing, but Southington’s 10U SeaBreeze team operated as a well oiled machine. Everyone on the squad believed in themselves and their teammates. And at no point, did Southington ever give up.
“Never give up. Never give up hope. Never lose belief in yourself,” Butkiewicz said. “Even in tight ball games when you’re down, there’s always a chance. You have to believe in that chance. Even if it’s the slightest of slight chances, you have to believe in it. If anything defines the SeaBreeze, especially this team, it’s believing in yourself.”
