Hi, everybody!
Over the last four weeks, I, along with thousands of baseball fans in the Centre Region, have been treated to some very memorable and inspiring baseball games — games played not by any professional or even a collegiate baseball team, but by a little something known as the Little League World Series.
A team from our neighboring Clinton County (Lock Haven, Beech Creek area) played this game the way it is supposed to be played. Talent, enthusiasm, sportsmanship and appreciation of their fans were present in all five of their LLWS games. Those games took them from State College for the state title to Bristol, Conn., for the regional title (Mid Atlantic) and to South Williamsport, just 29 miles from their hometown, for an experience of a lifetime.
I’m curious if there is an approximate guess of how many people these 12- and 13-year-olds played in front of in total from the state-championship games here in State College to the final game they played against the California team, who ended up winning this year’s Little League World Series. (Congrats, boys!)
After every game in Williamsport, this Clinton County baseball team would take a lap around the field, hats off, thanking the fans — the fans who, in the total of the five games played, tallied more 165,000! Not to mention that their official Facebook page has over 31,000 fans.
In staying with the numbers game, I found there are 6,500 Little League teams that begin in the worldwide Little League tournament, and our Keystone team was one of the last three ‘swinging’ for the United States teams. I’m sure this whole experience has been a whirlwind blur, but once the baseline dust settles as soon as this week, when they return back to school for the start of a new academic year, and all the way into their adult lives, when they are teaching their own kids how to play, they will cherish the memories they created.
Just this past weekend I was in my hometown of Lock Haven, celebrating my wife Katie’s retirement with high school friends and family. With us were one of the Keystone’s players very proud grandparents. It was great to hear their perspective on the past several weeks. They told us how last week their grandson signed more than 60 autographs on one occasion and was just enjoying that he and his teammates were still able to be playing through August.
They also mentioned how they owed him $50 for a home run he’d hit in a one of the games!
As someone who lives in a small town, and grew up in an even smaller town, I can say this team ignited its entire town’s morale. The mayor of Lock Haven, Rick Vilello, even suggested that this team has done more for this community in four weeks than he has done in the past 12 years!
Driving back to State College after spending Saturday in Lock Haven, my family noticed that outside churches and restaurants, on store windows, and even on some car windows and homes porches, signs thanking this team were everywhere! I think this team received so much respect and adoration because that’s what the players showed their fans.
One more time from me, congratulations to a great group of kids from Keystone.
In continuing the theme of kindness and sportsmanship, because my next column will be after our Penn State football team defeats Alabama, I wanted to remind you that last year, the Roll Tide fans were full of southern charm and polite team banter. Let’s try to show them the same courtesy — welcoming them to Happy Valley, showing them a good game and even better tailgates!
Way to go, Keystone. Let’s go, Nittany Lions. Man, I love sports this time of year!
