High hopes for Canadian team
Canada is looking to make history at the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania this week by hoisting the tournament trophy for the first time.
And Mike Marino, the head coach of Canada’s representative this year in Williamsport — the Whalley Major Allstars from Surrey, B.C. — believes he has the perfect team to do it.
“To be honest we’re pretty confident,” Marino said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Canadian Press.
“I think we’re ready to shock some people here, I really do.”
Canada, one of 16 teams battling for the prestigious Little League World Series title, opens play Friday against Latin American representative Panama.
Whalley advanced to the annual international tournament by winning the Canadian championship last weekend in Mirabel, Que., going undefeated on a title run that was capped with an 11-0 mercy rule win over Nova Scotia on Saturday.
The team arrived at the Little League complex in Williamsport — described by Marino as “like Disneyland on steroids for baseball people” — on Sunday night after an eight-hour bus trip from Montreal. They’ve spent a whirlwind week practising at the complex, doing interviews with ESPN, and going through scouting drills with the Baseball Factory.
“It’s funny because we don’t really think they know the extent of how big this is,” Marino said of the team’s attitude heading into the tournament. “They’re excited and it’s awesome and they’ve got smiles on their faces all the time, but I really don’t think they’ve realized yet what they’ve accomplished and where they are.”
Canada has appeared in every Little League World Series since 1952 (the tournament began in 1947), when a team from Montreal made the quarterfinals. A Stoney Creek, Ont., squad was runner-up in 1965 and two Canadian teams finished third — one from Trail, B.C., in 1990 and one from Langley, B.C., in 1998 — but those results pre-dated the two-bracket format introduced in 2001 that split U.S. teams from international entries. The winners of both sides meet in the championship final.
Last year’s Canadian representative from White Rock, B.C., lost in the international semifinal. A team from Whalley also made the international semi in 2005.
Marino said he doesn’t know much about Panama’s team, aside from a few stats and any preliminary info he’s gained from sizing the Panamanians up in the hallways and dining hall at the tournament grounds. But he expects the level of competition in Williamsport to be stiffer than what Whalley is used to.