Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Jubilation in Kennett Square as team returns with trophy
Parade honors members of Kennett area baseball team
KENNETT SQUARE »
There was jubilation in Kennett Square on Monday night as members of the hometown Junior League baseball team took a triumphant ride back to their KAU field accompanied by fire trucks, police cars, sirens and bells. And lining the streets to greet them were adoring fans, cheering, clapping and congratulating them on winning the national U.S. Junior League championship in Michigan over the weekend.
Dressed in their uniforms and carrying the trophy, an American flag and a banner, they rode into the field on pick-up trucks, disembarked at center field and posed for a picture with all the other KAU kids – down to the youngest – that had played in this 2017 season.
Several hundred friends and family then accompanied them to home plate, snapping pictures and forming a semicircle around them.
Master of Ceremonies and former K AU President John Tucker introduced the team saying, “You are staring at the finest 5070 (feet) field in Chester County and the players started here.”
Kennett Square Mayor Matt Fetick had plenty of praise for his boys. “You were good sports. I could not be more proud of these kids and their conduct. They are the best recruiters for the town,” he said.
Head Coach Matt Patterson could not say enough about his team. “It started when these kids were 8 years old, and we said there was something special about them. When we first met them, they were little boys,” he said,
Coaches Brian Regenye and Sean Burns took their turns at the microphone and said it was all possible
because of the support from the families.
Then it was Patterson’s turn to congratulate each member individually, and he had unique stories to tell about everyone. More than a few times, he pointed out that certain important plays were made by certain individuals, without which they would not have made it to championship play.
Tucker, in addition to being the past president, has a son, Andrew, on the team. He said he feels “more blessed than I should” because he has an older son who has also played in the KAU post season championships in 2013 and 2014 as well as this year for Andrew.
When he was asked what was the first moment of jubilation for this team, he
said it was when they won the state, guaranteeing that they were going to move on to regionals.
He didn’t play down winning the national championship, however. “Friday night was extremely jubilant as well,” he said.
Mike Robinson, the president of the KAU before Tucker said one of the
reasons the Kennett and Unionville area players on the team are so good is this: “KAU is a family. We get these kids at a very young age. We teach them the basics when they are 4 until high school.”
“They are very well coached. We have a good group of coaches. We have been fortunate,” he added.
The members of the KAU team play their home schedule on the NVF fields in downtown Kennett Square because it is full-size (90 feet). But they came to the KAU Field off Route 82 in Kennett Township because that is where they started.
The team members are 14U (14 and under) in age and come from the Kennett and Unionville school districts.
They practice not just in the summer, but begin indoor work in January and February.
After the team played for the U.S. Championship, they were defeated in the World championship by Chinese Taipei on Sunday.