After winning the Canadian Championship on Sunday, the South Vancouver All-Stars arrived in Williamsport, Pa. for the World Series and discovered a treat usual reserved for December.
“It’s like Christmas here,” said manager Brian Perry. Granted, he added, one only a few kid gets to experience. “Very few clubs get to do this, so we’re very fortunate.”
The team has been outfitted with new uniforms, trading in their navy blue for red. “We’re not just South Vancouver now — we’re Canada,” said Perry.
The athletes are being photographed and interviewed and treated to sponsorship swag from baseball companies like Easton in the form of new bats, gloves and cleats. The boys stay together in a dorm and are chaperoned by two “uncles,” named Willy and Dick, one a retired police officer, who volunteer at the annual World Series, now in its 75th year.
Emma March, only the 17th girl to qualify for the tournament since girls were welcomed in 1974, is in a separate room with the 18th girl in that special lineage, Mo’ne Davis, a Pennsylvania pitcher who throws a 70 mph fastball. The pair have a volunteer woman they know as "aunty."
Graham Randell, the president of South Vancouver Little League, was on his way south from rural Quebec to Pennsylvania a few hours after the players and three coaches left Sunday night by bus, arriving in Williamsport around 4:30 a.m.
“By all accounts, they are having a great time doing the things that kids do,” said Randell.
Teams are housed in a type of athletes’ village while parents and supporters are on their own to book hotels, stay with family or secure billets.
“The parents and myself are caravanning down in different cars. Some had to go home for work, some have gone home to tie some things up and are coming back to Williamsport. Some of us are driving straight down and some off to see families,” said Randell.
Since launching in 1956, South Vancouver had never won their district title, never played at a provincial tournament they didn’t host and had never represented B.C. at the Canadian Championship. This cohort of players won the B.C. Championship at the lower age group and are now charting new territory for the club and are taking their supporters along for the ride.
“It’s been a dream come true for these children and for the coaches and even for the parents and myself,” said Randell. “It’s a very exciting time for the league.”
