WHO: The youngsters of Boerne competing in the Little League World Series.
WHAT: A dominant tournament run that has them two wins away from being the first Texas team in nearly sixty years to win the whole shebang.
WHY IT’S SO GREAT: It’s always fun to root for kids doing their best in sport; it’s even more fun when those kids come from a community you recognize. In this case, those kids represent the San Antonio suburb of Boerne, perhaps best known for being frequently mispronounced (it sounds like “Bernie”).
It’s also the home of what certainly looks to be the best Little League baseball team in the United States. The city’s squad is the only undefeated team remaining in the Little League World Series, having vanquished all comers on the U.S. side of the bracket. But now isn’t a time to rest on laurels, as it’s got a big weekend ahead. On Saturday, it’ll take on Lake Mary Little League, from central Florida, whom it already defeated once earlier this week. If that goes well, then Sunday afternoon will see the Boerne bros take on the winner of Venezuela and Taiwan for the title.
Should Boerne win it all, it’ll be the first Texas team to do so since 1966, when a group of kids from Houston defeated New Jersey to claim the championship in the tournament’s twentieth year. The last time a Texas team made it to the final was back in 2017, when the lads from Lufkin fell to Tokyo.
Meanwhile, if you need a reason to root for the boys from Boerne besides Texas pride, we’ll lob a softball your way: Kole “Koleslaw” Newson, who hit a fifth-inning grand slam earlier this week to put the team’s game against Pennsylvania well out of reach.
Newson, an infielder and the son of the team’s manager, had open-heart surgery four years ago. When he was just eight, doctors discovered he had a heart murmur, which led to the physicians’ eventual detection of a heart defect that required intervention. Newson went in for the operation to repair his heart on the first day of third grade. The procedure was a success, as evinced by his ability to smash a 2–1 pitch over the left field wall with the bases loaded. Everyone loves an underdog story, and Newson’s journey from the operating room to the heights of youth baseball certainly qualifies. Let’s all jump on the Boerne bandwagon, and root for the team to keep crushing the competition.
