Mars baseball brings back an old field — and a new twist on St. Barnabas Cup rivalry with Pine-Richland
An old classic is back in a new way.
Mars Baseball Association introduced a twist on the dormant St. Barnabas Cup, once a yearly rivalry matchup between Mars and Pine-Richland’s varsity football and basketball teams.
The difference this time: It’s a youth baseball tournament.
The St. Barnabas Cup returned to a newly renovated baseball field in Valencia on Sunday and Monday, May 24-25.
It was a moment of pride for Dan DeMarco, a 2003 Mars High School graduate who played in those old St. Barnabas Cup games and now has a son, Cole, 8, rising through the Mars Baseball Association program.
“St. Barnabas Cup was a pretty important thing, at least for me when I played football,” DeMarco said in early May.
The weekend’s tournament, originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday before rains postponed it one day, was also a way to celebrate the reborn field, owned by St. Barnabas, which helps solve a facilities need for the baseball association.
Mars has travel and in-house teams; but for this weekend, three 8U teams were broken up by skill level to play a three-game series against a Pine-Richland team of equal talent, DeMarco said.
“(We) wanted to do something that (puts all the kids together),” he said.
Mars went 7-2 in the nine-game series and was presented a trophy. A banner will hang at the field one day.
DeMarco, the MBA president, “played baseball at Mars my whole life, pretty much from tee-ball to 25 (years old),” he said.
Mars Baseball Association needed new fields — it has nine fields now with the recent addition for ages 3-16, and about 700 families are in MBA, he said — and he approached St. Barnabas in the fall about leasing the field.
It was once a part of MBA but at some point stopped being used, DeMarco said.
The organizations signed a 10-year lease, he said.
Many of the 8-year-olds’ dads and other community members put in about 100 hours of volunteer work to build new fencing, cut down trees, widen the parking lot, install a batting cage and dugouts, and redo the infield.
Jim Lind, who serves as a community outreach coordinator for MBA and has a son on the team, donated a storage container and the batting cage and St. Barnabas paid for many of the repairs, DeMarco said.
“All the compliments we’ve received from the Mars parents that have played there, the park has a good feel,” he said. “My dad coached me there and now I coach my son.”
DeMarco hopes the tournament can expand to other age groups in the future.
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A Mars player slides safely into home past Pine-Richland's catcher in an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Mars players celebrate a play in an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Mars 8U baseball players celebrate winning the St. Barnabas Cup over Pine-Richland at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
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Action from an 8U youth baseball game as part of the St. Barnabas Cup at St. Barnabas Charity Field, Valencia, on Monday, May 25, 2026. Submitted Photo
