Little Leaguers form close bonds despite worlds-apart cultures (and a touching sidenote & photo)

Lubbock Avalanche Journal ^ | 8/23/07

[WestTexasWend]

THANKS for the ping...been watching & cheering them on, but missed this article...lots of great coverage of this team and the entire LLWS! Wish I could be there for the big homecoming party...hope we get to see pics (hint, hint :)

[hispanarepublicana]

looks like it will be Japan vs. Curacao and Lubbock, Texas vs. Warner Robins, Georgia to decide the world series championship game.
The Lubbock game is at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday on ABC, I think.

[jwalsh07]

Little League baseball, absent the occasional nutty parent, is pure. I took a trip to watch my 6 year old grandsons play some games in this their first season. I loved every minute of it.

[jwalsh07]

[hispanarepublicana]

Isn’t that a great photo? (post #24).
Here’s a neat story: the team manager, Ed Thorne, has a son on the team, Tyler Thorne (#23 in the pic). The team coach, Gerald Arredondo, also has a son on the team, Bryndon Arredondo (#3 in the pic).
The dads first met in the hospital when both sons were born just hours apart in the same hospital and joked that maybe their sons would play sports together some day. Have they ever!
Cool, huh?

[jwalsh07]

Yes, very cool. I’m 56, I still remember every guy on the team when I played at this age in the regional games. It’s a special time for young men. And young women these days as well.

[dfwgator]

I just hope those Venezuelan kids can grow up in a free country, but rapidly hopes for that are dimming.

[hispanarepublicana]

Yes.....I’d look for kids/parents to start defecting in a few years?

[oust the louse]

Great story....got a few goose bumps & some misty thing going...BTW, that’s all we did growing up in New Jersey....played baseball from dawn to dusk...til our moms were yelling out our names to come home...I still remember Mrs. Caprioni coming out with her apron on, her hands on her hips telling all of us to go home now as it is too dark to play baseball anymore....our ball field was beyond her back yard + she had three boys out there playing!....the boys of summer....it really doesn’t get any better than that.

Dittos here...Park behind my house...we started games at 10 am,broke for lunch,came back and game was over at 5 when we started to get called for dinner. Scores were usually 76-58. Right field was an automatic out because we didn't have enough kids. THEN Big Al,my friends Dad would pitch to us after dinner. I couldn't eat fast enough when we saw Big Al heading towards the field. That guy was awesome!

[SoftballMominVA]

Anyone watching now? Japan and Warner Robins, Ga tied at 2-2 and going into extra innings!