The Bermuda Longtails, a nine-and-under baseball team, headed to Aberdeen, Maryland, yesterday to play in a tournament against 14 other teams from the Northeastern United States.

The tournament is being held at the Ripken Baseball complex, an impressive facility for youth baseball.

The Longtails have been working hard for the past six months in preparation for the competition.

“This is a great opportunity for our kids to showcase their skills on the big stage,” Dave Bart, the team’s coach, said.

“Our kids have put the work in and the entire coaching staff is confident if they play to their ability we will be a tough team to beat. It won’t be easy as much of the competition is considered to be some of the best youth baseball programmes in the area.”

Leading the way for the Longtails are 11 of the top nine-and-under players on the island: Jack Fischer, Luke Driscoll, Connor Hupman, Dylan Cooney, Ethan Adderley, Johnny Bart, Jackson Stier, Daniel Morris, Jojuan Salas Rosario, Zaki Gibbons, Zach McGuire

The tournament starts on Saturday morning when the Longtails play the Cherry Hill Nationals from New Jersey.

The games will be streamed live at ripkenbaseball.com