A trip to Southern Ontario has finally brought success for the Bermuda Longtails Under-12 baseball team.

Troy Dort’s side won three of the five matches they played in Canada with David LaHuta, the Longtails assistant coach, confirming that previous foreign trips had not yielded any positive results.

“By winning three of five games in our 2025 tour of Canada, the Bermuda Longtails under-12 baseball team has achieved the most success in our history,” LaHuta told The Royal Gazette.

“It was one of the most unforgettable trips that we've ever had from a baseball perspective.

“These wins were the culmination of four years of incredible hard work. This journey started for many of these children in 2022 when I, alongside three other dads, decided to build a travel team around a handful of elite student-athletes aged 10 and under.

“We trained for a year and in 2023 we played our first baseball tournament in Edison, New Jersey, where we faced some tough competition. The boys played great and we had a wonderful time on our first trip, but unfortunately we returned without a win.

“In 2024, we had three teams travel to a tournament in Sandusky, Ohio. Again, we had a great experience playing baseball against some elite American teams, but all three teams came back winless.

“A successful youth sports trip isn't necessarily defined by wins and losses, but all of these children train for months if not years for the chance to taste the slightest taste of success.”

This year the coaches decided not to travel to the United States, instead preferring a trip to Canada.

“This year, instead of participating in a highly competitive tournament, we decided to organise a tour of Canada,” he said.

“We played against three distinct communities that welcomed us with open arms, and what an incredible experience it was. This was a true travel-baseball experience that started and ended in Toronto.

“It took us to three towns in Southern Ontario — Ancaster, Dundas and Oakville. We proudly represented Bermuda every step of the way, returned with a treasure trove of pictures and memories to share with our community.

“After winning three games in Ancaster, Dundas and Oakville, our team celebrated the victories at a Toronto Blue Jays match, where we also enjoyed a walk-off home run win under the moonlit Rogers Centre.

“Our first win felt like winning Game 7 of the World Series and it was absolutely amazing. The players were full of confidence and played with such toughness and as coaches we were proud of their efforts on the field.

“All the competition we faced was tough, but we were told that Oakville would be one of the most difficult teams that we’d face in Canada, and they proved to be worthy opponents.

“Our trip ended with a meaningful community service at High Park Little League. Our team went and picked up litter and became ambassadors of Bermuda in another country.

“We saw some great sights while we were in Canada and the whole trip was just amazing.”

Because of the success of the excursion, plans are already in place for the Longtails to embark on another tour to Canada next year.

“This trip went so well that we would love to return and do the exact same thing next year,” LaHuta said.

“What we found is that going on a tour and planning this sort of informal baseball with these communities in Canada was a totally different experience.

“It really shows the power of sport, how it can connect two communities across an entire ocean.

“We do hope to return to Canada next year, where there’s some others teams who are really looking forward to seeing us play.”

At the end of the tour, accolades were given out to players deemed to have excelled during the trip.

“James Cook was our captain, who hit four out-of-the-park home runs throughout our tour,” LaHuta added.

“Tucker Champion was one of our star pitchers, who was awarded the Cy Young award at the end of the tournament for pitching excellence.

“Alby Mowat was our second-team captain, who was fast on the base path and in left field, where he played most of the tournament. He received our Gold Glove award for several standout catches.

“Tyler LaHuta, who happens to be my son, his quickness on the base path scored many runs for the team.“