Haverstraw has made it to the championship game of the Journal News Little League Tournament of Champions 22 times and Stony point has made 14 appearances.

But only twice, in the tournament’s first year in 1961 and again in 1964, have they faced each other.

It happens again tomorrow, when Stony Point’s Giants face the Haverstraw Cardinals in the 48th championship game, at 11:30 a.m. The action begins earlier, with an exhibition game by players from the District 18 Challenger Little League, for children with disabilities at 10 a.m. and the finals of the tournament’s skills competition at 10:30 a.m.

The Tournament has been played since 1961, when a partnership formed between The Journal News and Haverstraw Little League to benefit Jawonio, the Rockland affiliate of the Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State. In almost a half-century, the tournament has raised about $350,000 for the Summer Education Program at Jawonio, a New City agency that provides a variety of services to individuals with disabilities.

Tomorrow’s clash, at Haverstraw’s Leo Laders American Legion Post 130 Memorial Field, is one the players will never forget. Although they will be opponents tomorrow and perhaps throughout their Little League careers, some no doubt will grow up to be teammates at North Rockland High School, which serves both towns.

It’s one of those clashes that bestows bragging rights for a lifetime.

Don’t tell the Cardinals, but back in the 1960s, Stony Point won both championships.

No matter the outcome, this year’s tournament will be memorable for a come from behind walk-off home run that won a first-round game for East Ramapo and for the no-hitter by Anthony Riello that vaulted Stony Point to the final game. There were other great games and memorable moments, but perhaps will measure up to tomorrow’s outcome—at least for two teams that both have their eye on the same prize.