13 Year Old Babe Ruth World Series

The Babe Ruth World Series is a week-long tournament for the Regional Winners held in various cities around the country depending on who bids for a World Series. Each age group (9, 10, 11 Minors, 12 Minors, 12 Majors, 13, 14, 13-15, 16-18) has their own site. This year the 13 year old World Series was held in Jamestown, NY August 15-22. The hubby was selected to be an umpire for the 13 year old World Series.  He drove out and I met him out there later.

The 10 teams at the World Series were:

Jamestown, NY 

Ithaca, NY 

Tri-County, ME

Poulino Metro, NY (The Bronx)

Tallahasse, FL

Janesville, WI (I was rooting for the home team)

Bismark, ND

Mountain Home, AR

Tri-Valley, CA

Camas-Washougal, WA

The first 5 days of the tournament are pool play. Each team is guaranteed 4 games. The top three seeds in each pool move onto bracket play. The top 2 teams get a bye for the first round of bracket play. I’m glad I was not out there for pool play. It was long days at the diamond. There were 4 games each day for 5 days. The hubby would get to the park around 11 AM and not usually leave until 11 PM or later. Luckily he usually worked every other game.  It would have meant pretty much the same schedule for me. That’s a lot of books and baseball. At least the facilities were nice but I would have been sick of hot dogs, hamburgers, and Italian sausage if I had to eat that for 2 meals a day for a 5 days straight.

By the time I got out there, there were only 6 teams left. All week I was hoping Janesville would make it to bracket play so I could see them play. They were seeded 2^nd in their pool and played the late game on Thursday. I certainly did get to see Janesville. They played Ithaca and beat them to move to the semi-finals on Friday.

The Janesville/Tri-County Maine Semi-Final was a great game. Janesville was down 6-2 going into the top of the 7^th. They ended up losing 6-5 and had the tying run on third. The hubby had the dish for that game and I think Janesville was hoping for a few breaks but he played no favorites.

The Agony of Defeat

The Championship game between Tri-Valley, California and Tri-County, Maine was a repeat of game 1 of the World Series. Tri-County won that one. They were not so lucky in the final game. I’m not sure Tri-County used up all their pitching to get to the finals or if Tri-Valley was sandbagging but Tri-Valley easily won 20-0 in 5 innings. It was 9-0 after the top of the 1^st. Personally, I like when there is a lot of runs before that means there usually is a lot of hitting. I like exciting games. I am not a fan of pitching duels. The hubby prefers the 1-0 game any day.

After the Championship Game, there are awards. They name an All-World Series Team, All-Defense Team, MVP, Sportsmanship Award, and other awards. If other teams were still, they were invited onto the field for the ceremony. There was some very nice hardware given out to the kids making the All Series Teams and getting other awards. I know one of the kids from Tri-Valley probably needed to buy another luggage to get all his hardware home.  He was just that good.

Championship Trophy

I am glad the hubby had the opportunity to be part of a World Series crew and that I was able to attend part of the Tournament. If he would get the opportunity again, I think that I would join him later into the tournament again.  By going to World Series or even the Regional Tournament, I can say that I have seen a baseball game in that state and slowly cross off states that I have seen a baseball game in. I’ve technically seen a baseball game in New York when we were on our honeymoon but only a few innings now I can say that I’ve seen an entire baseball game in New York…. Only 45 more states to go.