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SEAFORD, DEL. —
When it comes to Little League All-Stars, perhaps little Dorothy said it best when she clicked her heels three times several decades ago on the big screen.
“There’s no place like home.”
Travel ball, schools, American Legion and all of the other organizations that offer baseball and softball opportunities still do not afford young athletes the chance to put on a uniform with their own hometown on the front.
Little League, however, still does with its All-Star tournaments.
“It feels great, like I am playing for my country, it’s my town I am representing,” said Georgetown Major League Softball All-Star Lauren Bramble. “That makes me want to play even harder.”
Representing their own hometown also makes several All-Stars more apt to practice good sportsmanship. The idea of “embarrassing my town,” Georgetown’s Alyson Tober said, “is something that I would never want.”
What Tober does want, however, is to win.
“There’s always the bragging rights when you win,” she said with a smile. “But, win or lose, we want to do it respectfully.”
All-Star play underway
District III (Sussex County) All-Star tournaments got underway last week, as the Major League (11- and 12-year-old) softball players from each Little League took the diamond. In total there are eight separate District III double elimination tourneys, and the winners of seven of them will move on to a state competition with District I (Kent and New Castle south of the canal) and District II (leagues north of the canal).
The eighth tourney, Senior League Softball, sends its victor directly to the Senior League Softball World Series in Roxana as the host team. While no host team has won the tourney since it came to Delaware six years ago, two have played in the final contest.
Of the other seven, the 9- and 10-year-olds stop at the state level, but the remaining leagues – such as Major League Softball - each have shot at qualifying for their own respective World Series. From the state level, it is on to the East Regional tournament and the survivor there is Series bound.
Locally, Millsboro and Milton are the best bets to capture the first of the awarded District III titles, as the Little League Softball All-Stars each advanced to the winners’ bracket final tonight in Seaford at 7. Millsboro got there by dispatching Woodbridge 6-2 in a hard-fought game Friday evening in which the All-Stars scored four runs in the sixth and final inning to ensure the victory.
When it comes to Little League All-Stars, perhaps little Dorothy said it best when she clicked her heels three times several decades ago on the big screen.
“There’s no place like home.”
Travel ball, schools, American Legion and all of the other organizations that offer baseball and softball opportunities still do not afford young athletes the chance to put on a uniform with their own hometown on the front.
Little League, however, still does with its All-Star tournaments.
“It feels great, like I am playing for my country, it’s my town I am representing,” said Georgetown Major League Softball All-Star Lauren Bramble. “That makes me want to play even harder.”
Representing their own hometown also makes several All-Stars more apt to practice good sportsmanship. The idea of “embarrassing my town,” Georgetown’s Alyson Tober said, “is something that I would never want.”
What Tober does want, however, is to win.
“There’s always the bragging rights when you win,” she said with a smile. “But, win or lose, we want to do it respectfully.”
All-Star play underway
District III (Sussex County) All-Star tournaments got underway last week, as the Major League (11- and 12-year-old) softball players from each Little League took the diamond. In total there are eight separate District III double elimination tourneys, and the winners of seven of them will move on to a state competition with District I (Kent and New Castle south of the canal) and District II (leagues north of the canal).
The eighth tourney, Senior League Softball, sends its victor directly to the Senior League Softball World Series in Roxana as the host team. While no host team has won the tourney since it came to Delaware six years ago, two have played in the final contest.
Of the other seven, the 9- and 10-year-olds stop at the state level, but the remaining leagues – such as Major League Softball - each have shot at qualifying for their own respective World Series. From the state level, it is on to the East Regional tournament and the survivor there is Series bound.
Locally, Millsboro and Milton are the best bets to capture the first of the awarded District III titles, as the Little League Softball All-Stars each advanced to the winners’ bracket final tonight in Seaford at 7. Millsboro got there by dispatching Woodbridge 6-2 in a hard-fought game Friday evening in which the All-Stars scored four runs in the sixth and final inning to ensure the victory.
Windmiller Haley McCabe went the distance for Millsboro in the circle and allowed no earned runs along the way. The only trouble the All-Star faced was in the bottom of the fifth when Woodbridge tied the game after a pair of errors and some well-placed singles.
“I used a lot of screwballs and moved my pitches around,” McCabe said of her success from the rubber.
A day after its win over Woodbridge, Millsboro defeated rival Georgetown in the tournament’s second round to advance to the winners’ bracket finale against Milton. Whichever team wins there will have two chances to secure the District III crown in Seaford against whichever team comes through the losers’ bracket.
For updates scores and schedules, see us online at www.sussexcountian.com .
