While I was in the cape this weekend I Tivo'd a baseball game which had relevance to well, myself and a few kids that may or may not have been born when I was there. See in 1995 I was on the Shelton National Little League All Star team and we went through the state unbeaten. We then went to Bristol to play in the East Regional. Unfortunately we stumbled in the opener against New York and were eventually put down in the Losers Bracket semifinals against Delaware. Unfortunately for us, we existed before the time of the New England and Mid-Atlantic split and while we were the best team in New England that year the start of the Toms River New Jersey crew was happening and had we faced them we would have been pounded. In addition I also existed during a time when kids weren't mandated to play an inning in the field and get an at bat per game, so well I was pretty much a pinch runner and a bench warmer. But still I reminisce as it being one of the coolest summers of my childhood.
Well 12 years later a new batch of Shelton National kids won the state title. Some of whom were still in their mothers womb 12 years ago when we were getting a tour of ESPN and fighting through the losers bracket. Shelton went through ans made the finals of the New England Regional and while I was in the Cape they faced off against Walpole, Mass for the opportunity to head to the Little League World Series. Unfortunately for them Walpole put on a home run Derby and disposed of them 14-4.
However, they will always have the memory of getting here. They probably had the best few weeks of their short lives and no one will be able to take that away from them. So when you watch these kids playing in the world series or these regional finals, please don't think about how much pressure is on these kids. Just realize that this is a one in a lifetime opportunity and that ever kid on that team, despite the loss, will always have fond memories of the summer of 2007 and being on ESPN.
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