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ROBBINSVILLE: World Series run extra special for Horowitz family

By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
   The Robbinsville 12-year-old all-star softball team’s march to the Little League World Series doubled the fun for the Horowitz family.
   Not only was Ed Horowitz the manager of the team, he also was the father of two of the team members, Gabi and Lexi Horowitz. Together they enjoyed a run to the World Series.
   ”It was like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Gabi said. “It felt really good to be the ones to go out there.”
   The redheaded twins were staples in the Robbinsville lineup, but not because their father was the manager.
   ”He’s tougher on us than a lot of other kids on the team,” said Lexi.
   Added Gabi: “It makes us work harder.”
   The World Series fifth-place game that Robbinsville won over the Southwest Region champion, 4-0, was their last Little League game ever, and their final game together as coach and daughters. Ed will shift his focus to coaching his 10-year-old son, Garrett.
   ”I’ll be spending time with my son on the baseball side and I hope I can help develop the travel team with him,” Ed said. “He’s been patient the last couple years. I’d love them to continue to play, and my gut tells me they’ll continue to play. They love being on a team and being a part of it. To the extent they want me to help them with hitting, I will. And I will practice as much as I can with them down in our basement in the winter.
   ”I’m back to being a parent,” he said. “I was in the manager role a long time this summer and enjoyed it. I really enjoy the parent role. We’ve sat down, and sat down laying out all the stuff they got at the World Series, and the pins they got and talked about the girls they met.”
   It was a thrill to go through it together. Ed Horowitz played three years for the Baltimore Orioles and one for the San Diego Padres in the minor leagues after a Hall of Fame career at Rider University, but tried not to force his kids to follow him to the diamond.
   ”I wanted them to learn to love the game by themselves as opposed to through me,” said Ed. The twins have stopped playing soccer, but still play basketball in the winter.
   He has been helping the twins develop as softball players since they were 5 or 6, when they started to play T-ball in Robbinsville. They have put in the time in their outdoor batting cage at home as well as their indoor cage in the basement.
   ”We liked it when we started playing,” Lexi said. “He influenced us to try out for our travel team and start playing all-stars. I’m pretty happy that he made us play softball.”
   Lexi, the older of the twins by two minutes, wears her father’s No. 14 and is a catcher like him. She wasn’t expecting to follow in his footsteps.
   ”I think it was two years ago, our main catcher got hurt,” Lexi recalled. “My dad decided to put me in and ever since then I loved it. I started catching in the 10-year-old all-stars.”
   Gabi, who wears No. 21, plays outfield and pitches, and usually hits fifth in the Robbinsville all-star lineup. She considers herself a better hitter than Lexi, and delivered numerous timely hits for the all-stars throughout the summer.
   ”We have like a mini-batting cage down in our basement and one in our backyard,” Gabi said. “We work out in them a lot.
   ”He always wants us to hit off the tee in the basement. It makes us better hitters.”
   Lexi says that she used to be the better hitter. She typically batted seventh in the Robbinsville lineup, and seemed to always find a way to move along baserunners, something that she credits to her father.
   ”He taught us how to bunt really well,” Lexi said. “The bunts in a couple games won us the game. Every single practice, we do base-running, bunting and hitting.”
   The hard work didn’t end at the practice field. The Horowitz twins also worked hard at home, bonding over softball. The World Series trip was a reward for their efforts.
   ”I think we earned it,” Gabi said. “We understand how we got there, and how much we earned it to get out there.”
   Ed won’t be coaching the twins in travel ball, but he will be there for them as they continue to climb as players. He’s made that part perfectly clear, that the same way they earned a trip to the World Series is the only way to continue to excel on the softball field.
   ”If you want to be good, you have to work your butt off,” Ed said. “That’s the only way I know it works. I’ve told them, I’ll work every day and night with you as much as you want.”
   Their hard work paid off in a big way for the Horowitz family. The twins and their father always will have that bond over an unforgettable summer that culminated with a trip together to the World Series.