Tonight in McLean, fans will huddle around the big-screen TV for the biggest softball game of the year. But they won't be watching Jennie Finch and the U.S. Olympic gold medal hopefuls.
They'll be watching McLean's girls of summer: 14 preteens who pitched and batted their way to their own championship.
McLean's Lauren Sutherland drives in a run as British Columbia's Dana Buxcey can only watch from behind the plate. McLean will play in the title game tonight.
(Ross William Hamilton -- The Oregonian)
|
|
The members of the All-Star team advanced to the finals of the Little League Softball World Series in Portland, Ore., to take on their 11- and 12-year-old counterparts from Waco, Tex. And while parents will cheer from the stands and friends back home in McLean will gather at Rocco's Restaurant, the coolest thing, according to the girls, is that they're going to be on ESPN.
"It's been stressful a little bit," confessed Lauren Sutherland, 12, who plays right field and second base and sometimes pitches. "But our coach just tells us to do our best, to do whatever it takes."
No team from Virginia -- or the D.C. metropolitan area -- has ever made it this far in the 30-year history of the tournament -- beating teams from across the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Europe and Puerto Rico. In tonight's final, the opponent is a true Goliath: the girls from Waco, who have won 10 of the last 12 World Series.
For her part, Lauren -- who also likes to spell her name Lauryn, just to be different -- tries to eat grapes before a big game. Coach Jamie Loving, who played in the McLean Little League back when he was a preteen, said he has noticed all sorts of superstitious rituals the girls have adopted this week, from eating grapes to making sure braids intertwine and hang just so.
On Tuesday night, during the semifinal game against a team from British Columbia, Loving said his team looked shakier than usual -- even in an 11-6 win.
"None of them had ever been on television before," Loving said. "They spent two hours working on their hair before the game. But that was a good diversion."
And that was just for ESPN2.
Already, the girls are hometown heroes.
"It was awesome. It was electric," said Mike Juliano, owner of Rocco's, which played host to a viewing party Tuesday night and is doing the same tonight. "Our team's come a long way. The customers are coming in all the time asking about it. They're the parents of the kids, the parents of the kids' friends."
Win or lose, McLean Little League organizers say they plan a welcome celebration at Reagan National Airport tomorrow night for the team's return.
"There will be yelling and screaming and a bunch of people clapping," promised Chris Sowick, the league's vice president of softball.
First things first, though: the title game.
