Belisle back in the booth
CALL World Series coach staying in ESPN booth
Dave Belisle will broadcast again for ESPN
• For Dave Belisle, it never gets old when it comes to talking about Little League baseball with ESPN’s cameras rolling.
For the fourth straight summer, Belisle will be in Bristol, Conn. and in the broadcast booth as a commentator for the sports cable network’s coverage of the New England and Mid-Atlantic regionals that are both scheduled for August 5-11. It’s always nice to be asked to come back, yet it’s also a testament to the profound impact that Belisle’s memorable speech at the 2014 Little League World Series still registers a few years out.
“It keeps me close to the game. Plus, it’s an easy broadcast,” said Belisle, who’s been spotted at multiple Little League fields over the past few weeks. “I love the Bristol atmosphere. The people there do a great job providing fun for the kids but also ensuring the highest level of competition.”
The games scheduled for that Sun- day, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will air exclusively on ESPN-Plus, which can be viewed on the computer or mobile device. For the semifinals on Thursday and Friday and the finals on Saturday that will be featured on ESPN, Belisle will be joined in the booth by Karl Ravech, the primary host of the network’s popular Baseball Tonight show. Mark Brown will be Belisle’s play-by-by sidekick during the early rounds.
It’s a jam-packed slate, yet Belisle figures to have no shortage of material to share with the audience. Like any well-prepared journalist, the former Cumberland American Little League manager plans to meet with all the participating teams in an effort to find out what makes them tick.
“It brings out the youth in me,” Belisle said. “It’s a time in your life where you get to play with your friends and you also want to win with them. Good stuff.”
As the manager of two CALL squads that advanced out of the New England tournament, Belisle can offer viewers an insider’s perspective of what it takes to make it through several days of demanding competition.
“Most of the time, those regional tournaments are where you’ll see the best baseball played. You’ve got everyone dying to get to Williamsport. They get a sniff of that and they’re bringing everything they’ve got,” Belisle said. “Once you get to Williamsport, usually it’s gravy. You’re in awe and so glad to get there. When you’re at the regionals, you’re ‘Whoa, we can do this.’ They don’t want to let it go at that point. They want to go to the next step.”
Speaking of the next step, ESPN tried to get Belisle as part of their LLWS crew.
“When you’ve got family and a job where you travel a lot, you can only do so much,” he said, “but I look forward to my time in Bristol.”
• Between all the comings and goings that are part and parcel with being a first-time college basketball head coach, Bryant’s Jared Grasso has still learned plenty about the players he inherited from previous head coach Tim O’Shea and the fresh faces who will be starting their Bulldog careers this coming season.
“I’ll tell you this: they’ve been enjoyable to coach,” Grasso said last week when he was asked about Bryant’s non-conference schedule. “They’re starting to understand me and the way I do things, but like I told them in the beginning, if they come in and work really hard for me, the results are going to come. We’re not going to focus on what our record will be or what it was last year. Everyday let’s come in and punch the clock. They’ve been competitive. I’m happy with the direction we’re heading in and cautiously optimistic about moving forward.”
• US Lacrosse, the national governing body of men and women’s lacrosse in the United States, primarily serving the youth game, recently recognized its 2018 high school award recipients at the state level. Congrats to Cumberland senior-to-be and midfielder Jack Andrews for his All-American honor and 2018 North Smithfield grad and midfielder Nathan Lemoine for earning an All-Academic nod.
• Speaking of the Northmen, go on Twitter and find the video of sophomore-to-be placekicker Pasquale Camastro making a 50yard field goal at the football camp that Will Blackmon held at Bishop Hendricken earlier this month. It would appear the North Smithfield/ Mount St. Charles co-op football team has a top-rated specialist that could lead to some interesting fourth-down calls this coming fall.
• In staying true to the belief that the Lincoln High athletic department is in good hands with athletic director Greg O’Connor, the Lions will hold their first golf tournament fundraiser on Monday, Aug. 6 at Valley Country Club. More information can be found by visiting www.lhs.lincolnps.org. The registration deadline is July 30.
• This is probably wishful thinking on my part, but when a school announces a player is transferring two days before July, which the Providence Friars did with seven-footer Dajour Dickens, should the NCAA think long and hard about possibly establishing a cutoff date for such a course of action?
• We tried on multiple occasions to get Bob Tewksbury to talk about his line of work when he served as a mental skills coordinator with the Red Sox. The former righthanded pitcher was a frequent visitor to McCoy Stadium. Now, Tewksbury has a book out that’s titled, “Ninety Percent Mental.” It’s a good read and an interesting look at a sport that so often is defined by numbers.
Not to spoil it, but Tewksbury does mention how one time he helped a PawSox player who was in significant trouble. That’s all you get on this end. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. You won’t be disappointed.
• If Major League Baseball wants to inject some life into the All-Star festivities, they should perhaps take a page out of what Darlington American Little League officials did last Friday with the four teams coming to Slater Park for the Major Division state tournament. There was a Home Run Derby, but that was merely part of a Skills Competition that also featured “Golden Arm” (accuracy of throws) and “Road Runner” (base speed) contests. An individual winner was crowned.
At this point, it can’t be just about one event. Hopefully MLB officials got the hint when many of the game’s top sluggers passed from this year’s Home Run Derby.
• Your latest PawSox ballpark update straight from the beat writer’s notebook. The team is still working with Worcester and still meeting frequently with Pawtucket. Handicapping this two-city race, it sounds like Worcester is in the lead heading down the stretch. No one, however, has crossed the finish line … yet.
• Per an inquiry, International League President Randy Mobley says he hasn’t seen the actual legislation that the R.I. House and Senate passed last month concerning the proposed Ballpark at Slater Mill. In an email, Mobley said the additional expense associated with the lack of state backing for the bonds is very concerning to the league.