Anyone Ever Make it Close to Williamsport?

[benJAMMIN039]

I'm sure we have many members of the CCSLC who were little leaguers. With the start of the series, I'm wondering who was closest to actually making it to Williamsport. My sorry team unfourtunatly never made it past districts in all age level tourneys. Anyone make it to sectionals or even states?

[Roger Clemente]

A local team, the Glace Bay Colonels, has this habit of getting to the LLWS every few years. The local field near my home hosted the Canadian Little League Championships in 2003 and I watched every game. The Championship game featured a no-hitter by the Colonels' pitcher! I also discovered at that time that Sydney, Nova Scotia (along with Vancouver) is the birthplace of Little League baseball in Canada.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[Discrim]

I guarantee you will never see a team from Racine in the LLWS (or any Pop Warner league, for that matter). aint cus our boys suck (though it wouldn't be a shock if that was the case), it's cus we keep it local.

[Shumway]

Sorta unrelated, but where I lived, Little League didn't exist. We had our own leagues, and Little League came around my area later. The league I played in sort of competed, I guess, with the Little League organization...meaning, for players, we never actualyl played eachother.

Some of my friends played Little League, but i'm so glad I didn't. I liked the fact that I could take leads and steal, rather than waiting for the ball to cross the plate. I also liked having different uniforms than other teams. Oh, and solid socks....stirrup socks are the worst invention ever.

[infrared41]

Never even got close. My buddies and I used to talk all the time about how cool it would be to play in the Little League World Series and be on TV. That was back when the final game was all that was televised. That's as close as we ever got.

[KevinMcD]

I never played in a actual Little League. I played in another league, it was pretty crappy. There were 3 teams my last year, I got annoyed with the league, so I quit (stupid decision). I wasn't that good. I made the All-Star team once, only because I was the only 12 year old in a 12-10yo league. But I loved it so I should have kept playing.

Since I've never played in a Little League i've never played in a LLWS. My team won the league championship once, but that's as far as we went.

[Thad]

I played on an All-Star team and we made it to the state final. We lost 7-6 in 8 innings, and since I was 12 years old it was a total heartbreaker since that was my last shot at Williamsport. During the tournament I hit .350, had 8 RBI, and 8 stolen bases.

[SilverEagle5]

Never as a player, but I live about a half-hour away, so I've been to Williamsport quite a few times

[beansdooma]

My cousin was on, and my uncle coached, the NJ State Championship team in... '02 I think. Maybe '00. It was the Danny Almonte year, anyway, whose team my cosuin's beat. (though he wasn't pitching.)

[See Red]

Never even close. There was a couple teams that stayed together every year and they were usually the best in the League. I played on of those teams once, since a few of my friends were on one of them, and I actually had less fun since I usually prefer playing against my friends, so I was usually on a team that was just randomly assembled and never ended up being all that good. Though none of the teams that won my particular league got close, either.

I was pretty good, always one of the top two or so on my teams. My personal favorite year my team was terrible all season until about two or three games left... and we just started destroying teams. We got to the league championship and lost by one.

[nwtrailtrekker]

my little league team was amazing. we had a kid who was a switch hitter and switch pitcher. and was as dominating from each side at each position. but we always focused on tournaments mostly.

[Luigi74]

The leagues I always played in were under the PONY League banner. We played in some District tourney and got thumped in every game because the coaches played their kids at pitcher, 2nd base and short stop and they were the worst players on the team.

[njmeadowlanders]

Nobody in our town ever came close until I was in College. Last year, Livingston NJ was one win away--they actually got an ESPN game vs Connecticut or something, and lost it before making it to Williamsport...

[njmeadowlanders]

Nobody in our town ever came close until I was in College. Last year, Livingston NJ was one win away--they actually got an ESPN game vs Connecticut or something, and lost it before making it to Williamsport...

[FiddySicks]

I was always one of the better baseball players I knew, and thats not just me bragging either. I loved baseball as much then as I do now, i'd play for hours every day, and back then I could hit the hell outta the ball. Problem was, my pops wasn't a coach. I usually played in a 12-15 team league and, funny enough, the first 12-15 players selected just happened to ALL have the same bloodline as the coaches every year. My final season I was on the most dreadful team imagineable. We lost every game by at least ten runs. Good season for me though. I had a coupla home runs and sky high average. Luckily for me the coaches kid (the only other twelve year old on the team other than me, yet one of the most horrible ballpayers i've ever seen, yet he still made All Stars every year, go figure) went down with a broken ankle, and since I was the only other twelve year old, and the league had to pick one player per team, I got in (With a pretty decent amount of protest though, of course. The coach wanted his kid to STILL fill the final roster spot and just cheer the team on. Weak). Anyway, I was STOKED. I thought the team looked awesome. Here I was playing ball with the kids who had schooled my team all season, kids who I saw on many occasions do some amazing things with the baseball. Crushing it outta the park, throwing no hitters, making diving catches, all that. And all in the same lineup too. We couldn't be beat......... Unfortunately, these kids weren't much of anything compaired to other teams around the district, let alone the State of California. We played three games, and got murdered in all three. Lost by ten runs in all three games, didn't score a single run, and only had three fu*king hits. Two of which were by me (Lucky ass hits though). I played off the bench a total of nine outs, and three at bats.

Is it weird to STILL be bitter about the bull:censored: politics of Little League baseball after almost a decade?

[Waffles]

I spent a week at Little League summer camp in Williamsport when I was 11 and got to play in the stadium...does that count?

[Shumway]

Is it weird to STILL be bitter about the bull:censored: politics of Little League baseball after almost a decade?

I don't know if it's bad, but I'm right there with you, Bucfan. I got hosed out of my first All-Star game because our assistant coach wanted his kid to make the team. I've also sat through countless 11-run innings because my coach thought his kid could pitch. Well, he couldn't...he couldn't run, hit, or field either, so hey, let's put him at shortstop and third, right? I played a fair amount of first base, and I dreaded when balls were hit to this kid because if he didn't bobble the ball, he'd throw it about 5 feet in front of me or over my head. I'm so glad I played a lot of outfield. If only I were right-handed, I could've replaced that kid in the infield. Surprisingly, it was our catcher, not him, who blew the playoffs for us. I threw a friggin' dead-on rocket from center to the catcher....and he dropped it. We beat the team who won the championship FOUR TIMES that year, too.

[Sport]

My town didn't have little league. We have a local organization that runs many different sports. I like to say that I would have been one of the all stars. I was invited to play for a travel team when I was 11 or 12 but the idea of making my parents drive me to 60 games in one summer and paying close to $600 was too much for me even as a little kid. So instead I played in the rec league which was still competitive and I had a lot of fun. The funny thing is that alot of the kids on the travel team didn't make our high school team which just goes to show that a good 12 year old baseball player isn't anything but a good 12 year old baseball player.

My cousin Jack, however, is 12 and lives in Gilbert, Arizona. Last year his all star team won the state championship for the division under the Williamsport trip. This year they lost in the state championship game. I was bummed for him, I thought it would have been really cool to go to Pennsylavania and watch him play.

[nyk]

The coach of the Harlem Little League squad that went to the World Series in 2002, was my coach for 2 seasons in 1999 and 2000. His name was Morris McWilliams. I was a little jealous I wasnt on that team that made it that far.

[VitaminD]

Is it weird to STILL be bitter about the bull:censored: politics of Little League baseball after almost a decade?

After a decade, no. After almost 2 decades... yeah, I guess. But dammit, the kid's father was the ump! WTF is that?!?!

We lost in the New Jersey state semis. First game I ever played at night. Got called out on strikes to lead off the last inning down by 2 on a ball that bounced. (NOTE: I never struck out more than twice a season in any year of organized baseball, from age 7 through and beyond high school, and I played almost every game, so I'd say I had a pretty decent eye.) Nearly got ejected for what I said - which shouldn't come out of the mouths of good little 12-year olds, even if the ump's kid is on the mound.