Memories For A Lifetime

They played their hearts out in hopes of bringing the Championship trophy back to White Rock in hopes of making the area proud of their accomplishments and little do they know – EVERYONE ON THE WEST COAST IS PROUD!!

The season officially came to an end at the hands of Team Mexico at the Little League Baseball World Series classic which is held annually each August in Williamsport.

Friends come and go, but for the team to not only take part in an event such as this they have made memories that will last a lifetime.

The team consisted of young boy’s age 11 and 12 and were welcomed at Rogers Centre by the Toronto Blue Jays’ and the thousand of fans at the game as they played host to the Minnesota Twins. (The Twins won 7-2.)

The team left Williamsport, Pa. early and participated in the Jays’ batting practice, then they were introduced to the field during the pre-game national anthem.

As with any professional team the Blue Jays gave them a private box to watch the game from, which for everyone was a moment to remember.

Prior to this they ventured to New York City  where they watched the Seattle Mariners defeat the New York Yankees 2-1 and they did have time to explore the many sites of Manhattan

The White Rock All-Stars wore Team Canada jerseys during the ten day (Aug. 17-27) World Series and went on to finish the international portion of the tournament in third place with a 2-2 record.

They defeated Italy (12-2) and Venezuela (7-3) but lost to Japan by a commanding 10-0 followed by a 6-2 loss to Mexico which turned out to be their final game of the 2017 season.

It’s interesting to note, but no one ever heard of it until now that their last two games of the series were the All-Stars’ only losses they had all season.

Coach Ryan Hefflick called the experience – both on and off the field – one that’s “life changing.”

Bench boss Hefflick told the media “To have the opportunity to play on this stage against the best team in the world and to finish in the top teams, 6,700 Little League teams started this post-season and we made it to the top six.”

“Even though our last two losses were hard to take, we thought we had a team that could beat Mexico and we were right there with them until the end. To look back at it and say we were in the top six of nearly 7,000 teams, we can definitely keep our heads high.”

“We earned a lot of fans down here and every time I saw someone in a Canadian jersey I thought they may have been from Ontario or Quebec driving down, but no, they were Americans. They obviously got attracted to something we were doing on the field and were purchasing jerseys and hats themselves and cheering us on.”

White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin watched the Mexico game and mentioned the boys’ sportsmanship makes them great ambassadors for the country and they really are, they’ve been good sports, the coaches have been great. I like the way (the coaches) treated the kids and encouraged them to enjoy themselves and just take it in, it’s just a game.

For those who don’t follow baseball it’s interesting to note that this is the fourth time (2007, 2008, 2015 and 2017) the White Rock All-Stars teams have represented Canada in the World Series and this year was their best showing in the past 20 years.

For whatever reason Baseball and Girls Fast pitch grow at a rapid rate in the white rock area and this year it was the girls’ Renegades that had success as they won the Nationals August 6th in Lloydminster only to be followed by the boys who won the National title in Medicine Hat on August 12th.

Sportswave sends congratulation to the teams on having such a successful season and making a lifetime of memories!!!