Despite having to dodge raindrops for parts of the weekend, the first two days of the 2018 Pennsylvania Little League 9-11 Baseball State Championships hosted in Bradford have gone off without a hitch.
Eight teams from the Keystone State played a full slate of games on both Saturday and Sunday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s softball field.
Parents and coaches from regions as far away as Scranton and Philadelphia were not only impressed with the facilities at UPB, but with the entire region.
Tournament director Barry Bacha played a big role in making those players feel at home. Bacha had quite the to-do list this weekend, but no task was more important than getting the field ready after a steady rainfall on Saturday evening.
“(Sunday morning) we got here at 8:30, and you would’ve never thought the field would have been playable at noon,” he said. “But, we started the first game at 12:02. We busted our tails this morning, and I could not thank Pitt-Bradford enough. They opened their doors and I just want them to know how much we appreciate their efforts.”
Several parents echoed Bacha’s sentiments.
“The crew deserves a pat on the back for taking care of the field today,” Rick Comp of East Pennsboro said. “I came up here this morning and the field was really, really bad. I didn’t think they were going to play and they did a great job.”
Once the games got underway at UPB on Sunday, it was an electric atmosphere. All eight teams were in action in the double elimination tournament that will send one team to the Eastern Regional Tournament later this summer.
East Pennsboro and Stroudsburg became the first two teams to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals by winning each of their first two games.
East Pennsboro’s head coach, Tyler Comp, was eager to get his team back to this grand of a stage and his team has certainly embraced the moment.
“They’ve wanted something big to play for,” Comp said. “We were in the finals last year in the 10-and-unders. I feel like they took the sectionals and districts for granted because they’ve been there and done that. This is one we really wanted.”
After playing in Indiana last weekend, East Pennsboro took the nearly four-hour drive into Bradford for this slate of games.
“The kids are loving it,” Comp said. “We are taking vacations we didn’t expect and are winning as well.”
In addition to some competitive action on the diamond, players and their families have had the chance to explore the region during downtime.
“Unfortunately, most of the hotels in Bradford were booked,” Bacha said. “There are still a couple teams staying locally, but it just gets these guys out to see the whole area. It just shows the beautiful community we live in. These guys are used to the city life and can experience something different.”
The West Point team is playing in Ellicottville, N.Y., but have made the most of the commute to and from Bradford.
Shad Elder, whose son plays for West Point, has already made trips to the Zippo/Case Museum as well as stops at Kinzua Bridge and for dinner at Beefeaters, of course.
“I’ve always heard of good things up here but have never had the chance to stop up,” Elder said. “It was great to see a couple of these things and see some of the towns that I’ve always heard about.”
Today’s action will feature a pair of matchups that begins with Lionville and Upper Providence at 5 p.m. Admission is free to all games.
