By STEVE KRAUSE
Though the Little League softball tournament started earlier this week, the road to Williamsport, Penn., is about to get pretty crowded.
And it would be wise to remember that regardless of how many self-styled Joe Maddons patrol the dugouts throughout this area and beyond, only the smallest handful of weary travelers will make it to this little hamlet for the Little League World Series.
The District 16 baseball tournament begins Sunday with two games and will run through the middle of July. When it ends, there will only be one champion, which then moves on to the sectionals, the state tournament, the New Englands, and finally, for one lucky group of 11- and 12-year-olds, Williamsport.
We cannot stress this enough. Only one team from the entire six-state region will be playing on ESPN come August.
And to think, at one time, the odds of a team from our area making it that far were even less. Until 1975, only four teams had the privilege of playing in Williamsport, all of them from the United States. Now there are 16, with eight of them from the U.S. and eight from around world.
At one time, the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions were all combined into one grouping. Now they’re separate. And while this meets the objective of having more kids experience the thrill of playing in the World Series, this doesn’t make it any less daunting for them to get there.
We’ve been fortunate since the turn of the century to have two area teams make it to Williamsport. The first was Saugus American, in 2003, which buzzed through the field en route to winning the New England tournament in Bristol, Conn. The other, in 2009, was Peabody West, which had to survive a harrowing regional title game that it won on a walk-off grand slam.
I bring all this up for one reason: If you’re an adult, and you’ve been given the responsibility for the well-being of a group of 12-year-olds, try to remember that you’re doing this for them, and not for yourselves. And while everyone wants to win, and while winning is far more enjoyable than losing, if your blood pressure is spiking because of what may or may not happen in the next couple of months, you’re probably not cut out for this kind of responsibility.
In other words, chill.
Some of the worst behavior I’ve ever seen out of adults come during and after Little League all-star games. Back when I was a board-certified umpire, I had the honor of being asked to do my share of these games. There was one night, coming out of McMackin Field in Revere, where a bunch of adults from the losing team followed me to my car (no, they weren’t from Revere, all the games are played on neutral sites).
Of all the various insults and barbs hurled my way — over a call that I didn’t even make — the best came from a guy, with two children in tow, who screamed “what game was you watching anyway, blue? What game was you watching?”
I had the presence of mind to shut up, because if I’d said anything, it would have been “same game you was,” after which I’m certain I’d have gotten either pummeled or spat upon.
Then there was the time I was down in Bristol covering one of the New England regional games. The Vermont team, which was ahead, had run afoul of the rule that mandates that everyone must play two innings in the field and get to bat once. The New Hampshire manager knew it, and knew that the Vermont manager had to basically tank the game to get a tie score so he could get all his players in. So while Vermont tried to tank, New Hampshire went to equally ridiculous lengths to make sure it couldn’t. The Vermont pitcher would throw the ball 10 feet outside, and the New Hampshire batter would swing at it.
It doesn’t get any more ridiculous than that.
Guys, let’s not have any of that this year, please?
Best of luck to everyone. And please remember that this is the time for your children to shine, not you. Your children will thank you for it someday.
