Familiar kids battled for world title

For some of the more avid youth baseball fans out there, you may have flipped on your television to watch the American Legion World Series this past week.

I count myself among those ranks. I generally tune in to view all kinds of baseball tournaments on TV if I can. This one in particular, though, was scheduled well in advance on the DVR, and watched live on as many days as possible.

The reason: It’s always pretty neat to watch kids you’ve coached in travel ball or your sons played with or against on a regular basis while growing up gun for a world title on ESPN’s family of networks.

The squad was from Las Vegas. The ages for Legion baseball range from 16 to 19. Some will be playing college baseball next spring. Others still have a year or two of high school left.

As a little bonus, they ended up defeating a team from Nebraska to win the championship. That was especially fun to watch the teenagers you know find that kind of success and have the opportunity to “dogpile” on TV.

This week, there’s another youth baseball event under way — the Little League World Series. This one is for kids ages 11 to 13. It’s much more known, and the honchos at ESPN and ABC have turned this one into a two-week frenzy.

Years ago, only the world title game aired on TV. Today, every World Series game is televised as well as all of the eight U.S. regional semifinals and finals the weeks prior.

Besides managing a club/travel baseball team, I also coached seven years of Little League in Vegas. Each spring was always a fun-filled time teaching youngsters some of the finer points of the sport.

It was back this time of year in 2014 that several of my youngest son Garrett’s friends/former teammates qualified for the LLWS in Williamsport as the West representative. That was another special time tuning in to root for that crew as they took on various U.S. teams.

If you recall, they were the team that ultimately lost to the cheaters from the Jackie Robinson Little League from Chicago. Months later, Little League stripped the Chicagoans of their U.S. title for using ineligible players.

The Vegas kids were later deemed the U.S. champs, but never got the shot at taking on South Korea for the title. That was truly a shame for them.

Over the course of the next week, a new bunch of kids will be battling on TV for a spot in next Sunday’s world title game.

Millions worldwide will be watching — including the Langrell household.

Rob Langrell is the publisher of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: [email protected]