This year’s Little League World Series is probably going to be the more memorable ones. There were so many great stories throughout the tournament. From two teams from inner cities Chicago and our very own Philadelphia who both made good runs. Then there’s the cover girl of the entire tournament Mo’ne Davis. It is incredible to see a girl who can throw 70 miles an hour. Mo’ne Davis’s life has just changed a whole lot with all the publicity she received. Had it not for her success, by tossing a complete game shutout in the first round, would we even be talking about her? Probably not. Now everyone in the world knows she wants to play basketball at UConn from her interviews and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her there in about five years. She just seems like a person with a good head on her shoulders and not to mention she is athletic. It looks like she has a bright future ahead so hopefully all this fame doesn’t get her off her track. You see in her interviews that she’s a team player and mentioned how her teammates get overlooked because of her. She answers all the questions the right way and it was great to see her success during this Little League World Series.
Even though Mo’ne Davis was the headliner of the Little League World Series, my favorite story was the team from Chicago’s journey to the Little League World Series. They were down to their last six outs in the regional finals and then their offense exploded to win and make the Little League World Series. The number of black players in the MLB is getting smaller and smaller but hopefully kids seeing this Chicago team which was made up of 13 black players will inspire more people to stick with baseball. This team was from the Jackie Robinson West Little League which was founded in 1971.
It is great to see a team from the inner cities not only make the Little League World Series but make it all the way to the championship. They didn’t win the game, but they sure won a lot of fans. They were always the underdogs and they seemed to always pull it out. They were talented and athletic. This is one team that I will remember for a long time. Who knows if another team from the inner cities will make the Little League World Series again so this was special. We saw a lot of major league players tweeting about the team from Chicago and some even helped pay for the parents of these kids to go to Williamsport. Winning the United States championship is something they will never forget. Many of these kids have a bright future ahead and hopefully some of them stay on the diamond, but I’m sure for some, baseball isn’t even their best sport.
The Little League World Series is an experience of a lifetime. It is a great event and run by volunteers. I think it will be hard to top this year’s World Series, but every year there will be new headlines. This year’s seemed to be the two teams from the inner cities Chicago and Philadelphia, Mo’ne Davis, and the great speech from the Rhode Island’s coach. Congrats to South Korea for winning the whole thing. South Korea has won the championship three years and all three years the team didn’t lose a game in the tournament. This year’s World Series was memorable and entertaining so next year has a lot to live up to.
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Alan Liang is a senior Drexel Sport Management major with minors in Marketing and Business Administration from West Windsor, NJ. Alan scores baseball games for Baseball Info Solutions and is currently on co-op with the Philadelphia 76ers in the camps department. Follow Alan on Twitter @AlanLiang29.
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