Yeah, this is big
Manchester gets rock star treatment as team prepares for Series in Williamsport
The Manchester Little League team has spent the last four days practicing at a Little League stadium the players have only seen on TV, getting new gear, batting helmets, uniforms and bats, and in general, in the words of assistant
coach Paul Rubin, being treated like “rock stars.”
“We had a meeting with the [Little League] CEO last night with all the managers and he was like, ‘This is the prize. Getting to Williamsport is the prize. Winning this is the cherry on top. The last 16 teams here are all champions,’ ” Manchester
manager Rob Rastelli said.
Manchester, whose program never made it past the state tournament before this year, will face Honolulu, Hawaii on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN+) in the first game of the Little League
World Series on Volunteer Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“As we were walking by the field today they already had our names up on the scoreboard,” Rubin said. “We’re the first game out of the box.
“We pulled in [Sunday] and you get out of the bus and you see the big light poles. Kids know big light poles mean big stadiums so they start gravitating toward the light poles. Just the looks on their
faces, like, ‘We play on that field?’ ”
Manchester struggled in its last game on Saturday, an 11-1 loss to New Hampshire in the New England Region championship that ended after four innings due to the mercy rule. Both finalists advanced to the Little League World Series because there are no international teams due to COVID-19.
The health protocols have been strict. Like in Bristol, the players and coaches are quarantined in the Little League complex. Parents are allowed to come to the games but not allowed to get close to their children.
“I think for the most part they’re trying to do their best to make the kids feel comfortable and the parents, but they also want to have a Little League World Series, you know?” said Lisa Gorman, mother of Manchester player Ryan Gorman. “What they told us is that the kids will walk by so you can see them but do not try to stop them, do not distract them. It doesn’t sound as strict as I’m saying it, but to me, as a mother, it sounds awful.
“I do get it. I would hate to see anybody eliminated because of a COVID positive test.”
The team arrived in Williamsport on Sunday, coming straight from Bristol on a coach bus. Then the players were fitted for uniforms and gear.
“They sat the kids down on couches and they had studio lights,” Rastelli said. “It looked like a runway show. They had all the jerseys hanging on the wall. Someone was making announcements, like, ‘Here’s so and so.’ They got brand new cleats, helmets, bat bag, batting gloves.
“They were like kids on Christmas morning. They went from the ‘Oh, my Gods’ to the screaming and yelling to just not being able to move because they were in such awe of everything they got.”
After that, it was off to a photo shoot, then an ESPN shoot.
“ESPN was like, ‘Do this, jump up and down, jump into the camera shot’ and the kids were eating it up,” Rastelli said. “I guess a couple teams didn’t care to play along, but my guys are obnoxious and crazy and they’re like ‘Let’s go, we’ll do it.’ ”
Still, it’s been difficult sometimes for the kids to be cooped up with the only contact with their families via phone or text.
“I’m going to reach out to the parents to set up some Facetimes so they can see their parents because it’s been a few days,” Rastelli said. “They miss their moms, they see me here with [his son] Alex and they get frustrated because I’m here with him and their parents aren’t.”
Thursday is finally Game Day. Rastelli wasn’t sure who would pitch as of Wednesday afternoon. Hawaii doesn’t have as overpowering a pitcher as New Hampshire did, but the Honolulu team puts the ball into play, runs the bases well and will take advantage of Manchester’s mistakes, Rubin said.
The coaches are making sure to preserve the history of the moment. Rastelli has a batting helmet he’s going to have all the players sign.
“As we were starting to make our run, we could feel something happening during the districts that we have a pretty good team,” Rubin said. “I was scoring the [Under-11] game that day so I wanted to rip a couple pages out of the book, but I’m counting them first.
“Rob said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because I want to have enough for Williamsport.’ It was a joke. At some point, this book might end up at the Manchester Historical Society. I don’t think the players have any clue, but as coaches, we recognize that.”