Little League World Series
Little League World Series
Greensville, NC
August 7-19, 2021
What a month to remember! When we returned from Indiana, the girls were given 4 days to be away from each other, and let me tell you....they needed it. We returned on a Thursday, my parents brought Owen back on Friday and Gracie left with them for the weekend. I think she needed to be away from everything/everyone to decompress. We had a lot of together time in the 5 days we spent in Whitestown and I think we were all ready for a break.
So after that, practices resumed the following week on August 2. It was a little different, though. During their first practice the media was scheduled to attend and do interviews with coaches and some of the players. All 3 news stations, the local newspaper, and a radio station showed up. I met with the girls prior to practice to do some fun activities so they get to know each other better and talk about what they were expecting, goals, fears, etc. It was a good 20 minutes of getting some feelings out and letting others know that there was a lot of anxiety and anticipation with what was to come. They shared what their biggest fear was, how they believe they contribute to the team and what they thought the best part of Regionals was. I found that a lot of girls were anxious to fly and worried about Covid - mostly testing positive. I also noticed that they struggled a lot with identifying the good things they do for the team. Many of them shared the same appreciation of bonding with each other during Regionals.
My goal with them was to help them stay focused, but also help them have fun together or in the very least tolerate each other for the duration. We wanted them to play with each other and for each other; learn to appreciate their differences, strengths, and what each of them brings to the team. It was such a great experience to get to know all of these girls.
They had four practices that week before they left for KC to fly out to North Carolina. Nick and Gracie did an interview on Saturday morning with some ESPN people before we left. My dad came up to take Owen to the send off and stay with him until he left the following day with Porters, who become his other family.
Here are a couple of the releases from local news stations. Pretty cool stuff.
Our team in front of the bus that took us from Columbia to KC for the night.
Gracie and Nick getting ready to go.
Nick doing another interview prior to departure.
Our fans sending us off.
Getting comfortable for the 2 hour ride on the bus.
We ate D. Rowe's on the way to KC, then checked into the hotel around 8:30pm. We had a brief team meeting about what the following day would look like and answered any questions that the girls had before flying out. Lights out was around 10pm or so and wake up call was 3:30am. Fun times!
Our day began pretty early the next morning. With a 5:15am flight, we had to leave our hotel by 4am for the first shuttle to the airport. It was the start to a pretty long day.
Waiting at KC airport for our flight
More waiting...thankfully there were no major issues with getting through security, except for a sunscreen dilemma. :)
Our first flight took us as far as Charlotte, and then we had to take another flight to Raleigh. The Charlotte airport had more things to do and places to eat than KC. Our flight to Raleigh was not very long and we had someone to greet us and show us the way to our bus. Yes, another 2 hour bus ride to Greensville, NC. Riding in style.
The girls on the bus; it was pretty fancy and they got to watch a movie.
We also stopped for lunch at a bbq place that was pretty good.
When we arrived in Greensville, we got checked in and had the rest of the afternoon/evening to relax and get organized. They took us into a conference room and went over protocols, with and emphasis on Covid. Every team was tested every other day. I was the lucky one who got to collect spit tubes. YAY!
We had dinner at the conference center that night and later I had the girls meet so we could continue to put up decorations on their doors. Thankfully the food was a huge improvement compared to Regionals. Minus the first couple days of breakfast, which didn't include a hot meal option. Slimy eggs were added on the third day.
I brought all of the decor from Regionals and we did an activity to recognize how awesome each girl is and how they contribute to the team. Each girl had a piece of paper with their name on it and I placed them around our room. (Nick and I had a huge suite so we could all meet together.) After they were done, I went ahead and wrote all the things on their softballs and hung all decor on their doors again. Honestly, this was a huge help for me so I could remember which room each girl was in.
I'm pretty sure we ordered ice cream the first night. Or maybe it was cookies. There were very few nights that some type of dessert was not ordered to be delivered to the hotel. The coaches also did a Wal Mart run to get snacks for all the girls. Snacks were SOOOO important.
This is what our coaches returned with from Wal Mart.
Yes, shopping cart included. I'm sure they returned it.
The first night in Greenville was fairly uneventful. I think the girls went swimming and organized their rooms. We didn't stay up all that late; huge day of getting outfitted for the world series the following day... and interviews, pictures, and all the things celebrities need.
Since the LLWS was not providing us with a lot of practice time, the team tried doing some hitting and fielding in the big field behind the hotel, but that was not very idea. After getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, the coaches arranged for hitting at a local indoor facility. I did not go with them any of the days that they practices, but I hear it was a pretty nice facility. They worked out Tuesday morning and had practice at a local field Tuesday evening.
Uber to the practice facility
Prior to the workouts, the team needed to get fitted for uniforms and equipment. They also had to do more interviews and take lots of pictures for both the LLWS and for ESPN.
Waiting for our turn.
Gracie, Nova, and Nick in the conference room
This all happened on Monday, the day after we arrived in Greensville.
They resorted to playing a game of softball with water bottles and other things available in the room.
Eventually it was our turn to go through the "Car Wash" which is what Little League called the different stations when getting outfitted for the games.
The first station was getting masks and uniforms from Adidas. They had dressing rooms set up and gift bags for all the girls. They got to try on their uniforms and make sure everything fit correctly. The were given pants, jerseys, socks, jackets, and other clothing items. They went all out to make the girls feel pretty special. They were treated like royalty.
Girls at the first stop trying on their socks
The jackets and base layer shirts were pretty nice.
Thank you for modeling, Gracie
The bows were made by a Galaxy Mom back here in Columbia. Thank you Trevia!
The jerseys came next.
Only 2 girls had their original numbers. They were numbered according to size and only went up to 27 I think. The girls got over it pretty quickly. Not much choice, here.
New Cleats!
Adidas made a completely new shoe for these girls the unveiling was quite the production.
Trying on the new cleats
Easton equipment - Gracie is giving one of the bats a workout.
Easton provided 2 catching sets and 14 bats, helmets, bags, and batting gloves.
Unfortunately most of the bats were too small for our girls and only 4 of them were a size that any of our girls could use, so they shared. Ironically, at least 2 of the new bats were taken by the officials during the games and deemed "broken." Hmmm....
Speaking of that, I believe that at least 8 of our bats were taken during the course of the tournament. Luckily Gracie's Xeno was not one of those. That's another story, though. One of them did actually get broken during a game, but is was obviously not confiscated soon enough.
The next station in the "Car Wash" was ESPN interviews and time for fun photos. We have a bunch of them. Basically they were just biding time before the official ESPN photos. The girls had fun at the selfie station.
Gracie and Nick posing. I love this picture of them.
Gracie getting a photo taken
The girls from Southern Boone
Lydia, Nova, Gracie and Brooklyn
Brooklyn and Gracie trying to be serious.
Our awesome coaches!
Steve Regan, Kerry Bush, and Nick
Gracie and Nova
This seems to be their preferred pose.
Gracie is able to pull of the serious look.
Kaitlin and Gracie trying to do it together.
Some are better than others.
Official ESPN photo shoot
Gracie's poses.
She also did a split jump that made the cut. I didn't get a good pic of that.
Catching position
Finally we made it to Stallings Stadium
After all the hoopla at the convention center we took a bus to the stadium to take some picture at the field and buy some items at the Little League fan shop.
Sign for all the teams competing
Backside of the girls getting their team picture taken.
Girls in front of the scoreboard at the stadium
Team picture at the stadium
The schedule allowed for well over an hour at the stadium, which was not really needed. The had walked around, bought souvenirs, and taken pictures in under 20 minutes. So we waited at the park. The girls managed to entertain themselves for awhile.
Gracie and Nova hanging out at the park. They look so enthusiastic about being there.
When the bus returned us to the hotel, the girls were encouraged to go outside and take some time to themselves. Kind of like their "time out" when we were in Indiana. Gracie chose to climb a tree. She was one of the only ones who actually went by herself to walk around and find some alone time.
Gracie in her tree.
Listening to Jenny Finch's message
That evening, the LLWS provided a message from Jenny Finch to the girls.
They gathered in our room again to watch it together.
Tuesday, August 10 was a pretty uneventful day for the girls. They went back to the indoor facility to hit in the morning and then were bused to practice at a different field that afternoon/evening. Nick actually had to go to a manager's meeting that evening, so couldn't attend the fielding practice. I did go to that one with them. After that, they headed to back to the hotel, had dinner and an early bed time to get ready for the 10am game the following day. They had the very first game of the LLSWS! After dinner they had a special zoom call with one of Mizzou's most awesome players!
Zoom call with Cayla Kessinger
This was the first time I saw the girls give their undivided attention to anything for more than 30 seconds. Cayla was great with the girls and they seemed to love chatting with her.
They had a few more special visits throughout the week and we met as a group a couple more times to regroup and calm any nerves. They had a call from Mizzou's Jenna Laird one evening and Sophie Cunningham the morning of their first bracket game.
Facetime with Sophie Cunningham
Sophie was actually driving to her basketball practice for the Phoenix Mercury when she called us!
Game 1 vs Virginia
8/11/2021
We headed out for our first game at 8am from the hotel to start batting practice and getting ready for the game. ESPN and the LLWS had everything scheduled down to the minute. The first day was a little challenging, not really know what to expect when we got there.
Riding the trolley to the ballpark
Getting read to hit prior to the game
The girls decided to wear their baselayer shirts for pregame warmups.
This was a good idea because it was so hot and then they could change into their game jerseys after.
Getting ready for lineup announcements
Love this picture, too.
It shows how they came together; not necessarily during this game, but overall, throughout the whole experience. It is a very good representation of their team unity.
National Anthem time.
This was done before every game.
Managers' meeting
Gracie's first at-bat
Gracie went 2-3 during the first game
Catching vs Virginia
Our first game of the Series did not go great. We had so many strikeouts and Virginia capitalized on the couple of errors that were committed by our team. It was disappointing, for sure, but we still had three more games to play. It was a pretty quiet bus ride back to the hotel until Nick started the conversation with the girls on what happened during the game and gave his observations. I can't remember exactly what he said, but it encouraged many of the girls to speak up and talk about what they can do different to have different results.
I met with them that night and we talked about a lot of things for about 30 minutes. I think some of them would have gone longer, but not all the girls were interested in what I had to say. Most were very engaged, though. We talked about the "Man (Woman) in the Arena." What it means to put yourself out there in front of thousands of people who are watching and judging. Again, most of the girls were very engaged and really got something out of this.
We also talked about SMART goals and what it means to set goals. They each wrote down their goals for the next game. They were given the option to share it with others or not. It was noted that when they share their goals with others, this allows for more accountability and support from their teammates to reach their goals. Some of them shared their goals, others did not.
We also discussed self-talk and what they tell themselves when the are up at the plate or getting ready to field the ball. What are those voices telling you? What are you telling them? Growth mindset was also a topic we discussed. As with any group of athletes, regardless of age, there is a broad range of ability to stay engaged and maintain attention. Some girls thrive on this, others appear to care less about anything that requires self-reflection/growth. I believe that if there was even one girl who benefitted from this, it was well worth the time. It seems that over the course of 24 hours, the girls were able to regroup and come out on top the following day.
Throughout the day the girls watched the other teams play on ESPN+ and eventually watched their own game against Virginia.
On Thursday morning 9 (August 12), the coaches got the girls up again and went to hit at the indoor facility. We had the late game at 7pm that evening, so had a whole day to wait. I don't even remember what we did for most of the day, but I'm sure they watched the other teams play on TV. This might have been one of the days that I got some work done, too.
At 5pm, we loaded the trolley again for game #2 against Texas. There was a different kind of energy for this game and it was more exciting and relaxed all at the same time than the first game, the day before.
Watching the game before us
Taking it in prior to batting practice
Our team watching the game.
More fun pics
All 3 of us
Finally getting to hit/warm up
Like I mentioned before, everything was on a very set and specific schedule.
Playing some volleyball in the outfield before the game.
I think that's what was missing in the first game.
Nick agreed to get mic'd up.
I was a little worried about this. Sometimes you never know what might come out of his mouth.
Gracie hitting against Texas
A different view. Love this pic.
We had a rough start to this game with a couple of baserunning misfortunes, but we opened up in the 4th inning and scored 3 off of a homerun by one of our girls. After that, the momentum changed and we never looked back. This was by far, the most fun and exciting game we played. Gracie went 2-3 again and caught an awesome game. What a fun night!
We had more of the same in the next two games. We played Arizona next and beat them pretty decidedly. Here are some pictures from that game. I didn't get any actions shots, but I think we won 6-0 in a shutout game. Gracie caught again and the girls did great!
Nick needed a little nap before the game to recharge.
So... each day we had at least one bat taken because it was "broken" and didn't pass inspection. Very strange that some of the bats taken were the brand new ones that Easton gave us for the LLWS.
I took a picture because Kennedy Watson put her souvenir bat out to see if they would take that one too. It made me laugh.
Our superfans aka brothers!
All of the posters and signs made the highlights, I believe.
Here are some more fans!
Our 4th game against New York in pool play was a morning game again. So we had to leave the hotel by 8am to start warmups at the field. This included some kickball fun.
Warming up playing kickball on the challenger field.
It was a beautiful morning to play New York.
Gracie insisted on getting this shot of all their gloves lined up.
Morning stretch
We had family drive down from Tennessee for our game on Saturday morning. I wish I would have gotten a picture of everyone together, but what a cool thing for them to do. We had Aunt DeAnne, Scott, and Melissa watching Gracie for this game. So great to see them and grateful they came to support her. The game was closer than it probably should have been, but we came out on top. This may have been the game that we had an excessive amount of strikeouts again (12). Always something to work on. The win secured our spot in bracket play and put us seeded #2 in our pool behind Virginia. This meant that we would play the #3 in the other pool, followed by the #1 (Oklahoma) if we would win our first bracket game.
Despite the struggles at the plate, Gracie went 2-3 again and even had a hit from the other side of the box. Nick told her if she was going to try, this was the game to do it.
Gracie catching against New York
After the New York game, the day was pretty open. We got back to the hotel and had some lunch and then a little R&R for the afternoon. There was a "party" at the convention center that night for the teams and our girls went there for a little while but none of them stayed for long. I know I have pictures from it, but I can't find them. I didn't go for a lot of it, but joined for the last 20 minutes or so. They brought back cookie decorating bags and made a mess in our room, but other than that, it was a pretty uneventful evening. I think we may have ordered ice cream again, too.
A much needed vacation
Our coaches arranged for a charter bus to pick up the girls on Sunday morning to take them to the beach. The girls knew they were going to the beach, but they did not know that their parents would be riding with us. it was a pretty awesome day and it was so good to have the girls get together with their parents/families. It was about 1.5 hours to the beach in Atlantic City from Greensville. We had to keep it pretty low key at the hotel, since we were supposed to stay in our pod. We pretty much did, except for the parent part. I think the goal for the day was to let the girls do something, or anything that did not have to do with softball and that allowed them some space. The ocean and the beach definitely gave them that freedom. It as the best day.
I am so happy that Owen got to go.
These pictures just make me smile.
Gracie is taking it all in, getting ready to ride the waves.
Nick and Gracie playing in the water
Grandpa Tom with Owen
Mom and me
Another pic in the water
Grandma and Grandpa
I still am so thankful that they got to go.
Owen with Grandma and Grandpa
Adding Gracie to the pic
Our family
What a great day!
Added the grandparents
My handsome little man
Gracie and Owen
Gracie with Nova.
It has been great watching these two develop their friendship.
Our bus dropped us off around 12pm and most of us went to eat lunch somewhere on the beach. We had a good 5 hours of ocean/beach time before loading up again to head back to our hotel. There was one girl on the team who had never been to the ocean before and I'm so glad that we all got to do this. The ocean on the Atlantic side provided far bigger waves than the ones we frequently see on the gulf when we visit Florida. The ocean consumed a pair of my sunglasses, but it was so fun to play in.
We ordered pizza on the way back and had a low key evening back at the hotel. Some girls went outside to play some volleyball with the kickball, others just chilled in their rooms. I can't remember the exact bedtime for that night, but I'm guessing it was around 10:30pm. I visited each room that evening to talk with the girls a little bit. By this time, as one could imagine, personalities were beginning to come out and there were some clashes. I think most of the girls handle this pretty well, though and the majority of the girls took things seriously.
Our pizza party night at the hotel
Sunday was also the day that it rained, so most of the games were significantly delayed. I think they canceled one all together because there was no way one of the teams could move on to bracket play anyway (Indiana). They were scheduled to play Oklahoma that afternoon and I think it would have been pretty ugly. I think one of the games did not get started until after 10pm that night due to the rain.
I'm glad we had an off day.
We ended up playing Nevada to start bracket play, which was another win for us. I don't think I have any pictures from the Nevada game. We had the early game again, so we were at the field by 8am, ready to roll. We beat Nevada and then had Oklahoma the following day. Again, I have zero pictures from the game against Oklahoma. The girls didn't play their best and I think we only had one hit, total against their team. It was very disappointing for the girls and I know Gracie was pretty upset about her performance. This was the only game that she struck out throughout the entire Little League run. She was batting .571 going into this game, and of course they mentioned that stat during the introductory comments. Totally jinxed her. Not that she could hear any of that while she was playing.
Anyway...after the disappointing loss to Oklahoma, the girls watched the Texas vs Virginia game, which determined who would play Oklahoma in the championship game. We were hoping for a rematch against Virginia, but Texas came up short to them, which means we played Texas the following day in the 3rd place game.
Unfortunately the 3rd place consolation game was the only game throughout the World series that was not televised. Nick shared his feelings about this with both LLWS and ESPN prior to the semi-final games. The way things were handled by both LLWS and ESPN after the semi-final games for both consolation teams was less than satisfactory. I won't go into a lot of the details, but ESPN and some of the staff from Little League World Series did not even know there was a game to be played prior to the championship on the final day. Not sure how this happened.
Anyhoo... the girls had one last game to prepare for. They had to get their s#&@ together and come out with one more win. After seeing Texas lose that night against Virginia and the way they returned from their game that night, I knew they could do it. At bed check that night I went to each room again and talked with the girls. At this point it was more like small group discussions. Some of the girls took it so seriously and I think they really got something out of it. I encouraged each of them to think of 5 things they are grateful for before they go to bed and when they get up in the morning. They were able to identify things right away. This changes their mindset to positives instead of negatives.
Our last day of play. Oh, what a journey it had been; from the very beginning of state to adjusting to being in the spotlight on ESPN. That last day, there was no spotlight, no cameras, no waiting for commercials, timeouts, mic'd up coaches, or anything. Just girls playing softball. As disappointing as it was for Little League to not recognize 2 of the 4 best teams in the country, it was ok and the girls had fun. They played the sport they love and made memories doing it. We ended up dominating Texas in that last game. Gracie got to play shortstop and gave the left side of the box a try again. The coaches even got into it during warmups.
Coaches playing catch. They just want to have fun too.
I want to mention Steve, who is pictured here with Nick. Our bat-phone coach, who I really enjoyed getting to know throughout the whole experience. I know Nick appreciated Steve taking care of line-up substitutions and calling in to the press tower. I can't remember if I have mentioned it, but there were some nights that coaches got together in our room that I laughed harder than I have in a really long time. I really appreciate the humor and conversations we had.
Watching warm ups
Gracie on the scoreboard
The girls prior to the game.
Can't get enough of that kickball.
Hanging out in the dugout before the game
I love this picture of Gracie and Coach Kerry. I think they could talk strategy and stats together for hours. He was huge in helping her understand what pitches they needed to be throwing and giving her confidence that she can do it on her own. She has been calling pitches for over a year now, but going into the Regional tournament and working with pitchers that she didn't know as well, she was definitely more hesitant to do it on her own. He supported her with whatever she wanted to do. If she wanted to call her own game, he gave her the green light. If she wanted help, she let him know and was comfortable asking letting him take over. He encouraged her to develop that part of the game, but also recognizing that they can keep it simple and still win. He pays attention to what other teams do and their tendencies, which helps Gracie a lot with her pitchers.
So, during the Texas game, there was a little rain/lightning delay again.
The teams played together in the gym across the street during the storm.
I'm not sure exactly what they were doing, but it looks like they were having fun.
After the storm delay the game resumed and we continued to dominate and won in the end.
I promise...we're almost done.
Here are a few pics of the team
I just love these girls and miss them.
After the win over Texas, we got a few pictures with the family before heading out to eat with all of the parents. We met them at the establishment they had been frequenting for the duration of their stay. We had a good time and stayed to watch the championship game between Virginia and Oklahoma on ESPN.
Grandma and Grandpa with Gracie after our last game
Gracie and Owen together
A pic with the Grands.
Here we are after the last game. We had a pretty good time.
Waiting for food
Watching the game and signing all of their softballs
We spent the rest of the evening at the hotel after dinner. I think we had people in our room until around midnight. Thankfully our flight that was scheduled to leave at 5:30am from Raleigh was pushed back to a much more reasonable time. I will remind you, that Raleigh was at least 1.5 hour bus ride from Greenville. We made sure that girls were packing up and getting ready to head out the following morning. However, we weren't too strict on bedtime that night.
Owen's experience was a little different from ours, but I'm so happy that it worked out for him to join us. I can't say enough how much I appreciate that my parents came to watch and took care of Owen, along with Porters, who made sure that he made it to and from Greenville safely. Owen stayed in Missouri for three additional days before joining us on Tuesday August 10 in North Carolina. He got to watch his friend practice tackle football since his parents are mean and won't let him play yet. ;)
Tanya was nice enough to send us this pic of him watching football practice.
This was probably torture.
Owen with Keegan at the airport
Hanging out in the Porter hotel room
They left super early on Thursday morning to return to Missouri. They did take the 5:30am flight.
They were so exhausted. Owen was able to make it to his flag football practice that evening, though. then he joined us for our return to Columbia.
Our return flights were pretty uneventful and we arrived back in Columbia between 8:30pm and 9pm. We warned the girls that there would be a lot of people there to welcome us back, but we had no idea it would be as big as it was. The whole experience was a little overwhelming and surreal. I can only imagine what it was like for a 13 year old arriving back to the crowd that was supporting them from afar. Before we got off the bus for the last time, I gave each player and coach their softball door decorations and wrote messages on them to each. I will remember each girl and hope they know how special they are. I am so lucky to have had this opportunity with the girls on this team.
Finally home!
The Mizzou Softball team was also there to greet us when we arrive back in Columbia!
What a special treat!
https://abc17news.com/news/2021/08/19/dbll-all-stars-get-warm-welcome-after-third-place-finish-in-the-little-league-world-series/
Gracie - I know you will read this and I hope you can look back on this for a long time feeling proud of your accomplishments. I know that you had goals to win the whole thing and there were some disappointments, but we are so proud of you and want you to keep reaching for the stars. Your goal for this experience started well over 2 years ago (back in 2019 when some of your older friends were competing in regionals). You were 10 years old at that time and wanted so badly to be competing with that team. You made sure that I knew the following year that it would be a priority, so we figured out how to make it work. Then...Covid canceled 2020. So we reset and moved forward a year; we made it work again in our schedules. As long as you keep setting goals, we will help you to achieve them.
Owen - when you read this, I want you to know that you are the best little brother in the world when it comes to supporting Gracie. I am so happy to have you by my side to watch. There are few siblings who can honestly say that they would rather watch their sister play than go play with their friends at the park. You will get your time. I promise. You have so much potential.
And Nick - All of the endless hours spent with these girls and helping coordinate everything that had to be done. Advocating to help girls achieve equality in sport. I want people to know that you don't just care because it's Gracie, but because it's the right thing to do for this sport and for girls' sports in general. You have been helping kids in sport since you were 23 years old and have spent far more hours with other people's kids than your own. We need more people like you (and the other coaches on this team) who understand youth and what it means to positively impact kids not with just sport, but in all aspects of their lives. I know that you care about all these girls, as I do, as if they were your own. I'm so proud of what you have done and what you continue to do.
We have reached the end this journey and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. This post has taken so long to write. I think I started over three weeks ago and wanted to get as many details as I could. I want to make sure that our kids have lots of details and can look back on this someday and think, "I remember that; what an incredible experience!" No regrets and I can't wait for the next big thing for either of our kids. Back to reality, I guess. What a ride!
Comments