Upper Providence eyes spot in LLWS State champions represent Pa. at Mid-Atlantic Regional
Batting practice looked much more like a home run derby on Friday night at MacFarlan Park in Collegeville, PA.
With each crack of the bat and each pop of the glove, the hopes of the Upper Providence faithful rose higher and higher.
The Upper Providence Little League baseball team was gearing up for the Middle Atlantic Regional Tournament, set to get underway Sunday, August 6 in Bristol, Connecticut. The tournament concludes with the championship on Saturday, August 12 as one team earns a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.
In addition to Upper Providence — the Pennsylvania representative, five other teams are set to compete at regionals. The includes Milton (Delaware), Thurmont (Maryland), Holbrook (New Jersey), Plainview (New York) and Northwest Washington (Washington, D.C.). Games will be airing on ESPN3 with Upper Providence opening up its run against Milton on Sunday at 4 p.m.
For head coach Keith Cadden, the regional tournament is hopefully just another step along the way as Upper Providence has claimed the District 27, Section 8 and Pa. State championships en route to reaching regionals.
“You don’t realize that there are 50 teams in the entire country that are still playing right now,” said Cadden during the team’s pep rally on Friday evening before their departure the next morning. “We probably started the summer with a few thousand teams, so that’s pretty cool for all of these kids to be a part of. It’s something this whole community is rallying around.”
The team’s final practice before making their long awaited trek looked more like a carnival. The fences of the stadium were lined with signs and banners along with plenty of fans sporting their gloves, waiting for a hitter to drive one out of the park during batting practice.
And surely, the hitters didn’t let their fans down. Countless balls were peppered over the fence while the fans flashed plenty of leather off in the distance.
“We press them pretty hard during batting practice all season,” said Cadden with a laugh. “Tonight was, ya know, ‘let them hit.’ That’s what the people were here for. You wanted to see the kids have some fun and swing the bats on a night like this.”
Their bats have obviously been there all along as Upper Providence outscored its opponents by a combined score of 48-9 through their Pa. State title run. That included an 18-5 win over North Allegheny in the championship game that featured five UP home runs.
It’s a balanced attack in all facets of the game, explains Cadden, which enables UP to do its damage at any point in the lineup.
“The hit, they field, they pitch well,” said Cadden, “and the thing is there’s not one guy who is a particular standout. They’re all really good. There’s no No. 1 pitcher, no No. 1 hitter — they all excel, they’re all very solid.”
That was on full display throughout Friday night’s practice as each player demonstrated a swing at the plate that could have made any hitting coach blush.
In the field, Upper Providence is obviously no slouch, either, as the ball rarely found its way into the outfield grass at MacFarlan Park.
“That makes my job easy,” Cadden said with a big laugh. “All I’ve got to do is write everything down and hand it in. The rest is up to them.”
This weekend will also give Upper Providence a chance to showcase the experience they gained two seasons ago. In 2015, this particular group won the Pa. State Championship and made it to the 9/10 Eastern Region Little League Tournament in Cranston, RI. Though the results didn’t turn out as expected, Cadden hopes his players can channel the lessons taken in from that run, which included nine members currently on the team.
“Now that they’ve gotten a little bit older, they don’t let things that go wrong in the game bother them,” he said of his players. “These guys have been close with
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each other for so long — they play multiple sports together and most of them have been playing on this field since they were seven. It’s been all around fun watching them grow up together.”
The Upper Providence team includes T.J. Cadden, Ryan Garvey, Brendan Kenning, Michael McKenna, Cole Nilles, Cam Paquette, Gavin Schauder, Ryan Shaner, Vernon Sheeler, Gage Swanger, Matt Tsiaras and Jake Voynar.