Huddle up: Little Leaguers can now begin their summers

Marques Hunter

Huddle up

I called the Gagliardi house last week to speak to the catcher of the Gig Harbor American Little League 9-10-year-old team. When his mother Kathy picked up, she said he was out riding his bike around the neighborhood.

Sounds like a group of young boys are finally getting a chance to enjoy the summer and have fun, like the rest of the youth world.

Most boys and girls in the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula area began their summer fun as soon as school got out in June. But for Little Leaguers, the real break doesn’t occur until about this time.

The Gig Harbor American 9-10s placed second in the state tournament after they won the District 2 tournament for the second year in a row.

Winning the district title was an accomplishment by itself. But to advance to the state level at Valley Ridge Park in SeaTac must have been one of the greatest experiences boys that age have had.

The Americans went undefeated in the district tournament and kept it going. They had won seven in a row before they met Kent in the state semifinals on July 22.

Gig Harbor center fielder Drew Hays said it was a cool experience, because most people don’t get to play in that level of competition.

It was a disappointing loss and an unfamiliar feeling for many of the Gig Harbor players. But to see how they responded the next day in a loser-out matchup against a sizzling Eastlake team was dramatic.

Eastlake lost its first state-tournament game before it caught fire, winning five in a row. Gig Harbor had just come off its first loss of the tournament.

Gig Harbor trailed until the final inning, when the Americans snapped out of their funk and rallied to score two runs on a Davis Alexander double in the top of the sixth.

The sequence of events that took place in the sixth will probably resonate in the heads of these local boys for the rest of their lives.

“It’s probably the coolest experience I’ve had in my whole life so far,” Hays said.

There are countless baseball tournaments across the state. As a matter of fact, I helped one of my close friends supervise one at Heritage Park, located next to Rogers High School in Puyallup.

Little League, in my opinion, is the most competitive league out there. There are 13 districts and at least a dozen teams per district in each age division.

Gig Harbor is one of those bigger programs that fields two tournament teams because of its growth in recent years.

Athletes usually get just a few opportunities to become a state champion. And while the Americans didn’t win the state title, they never quit, and that’s what winning and sportsmanship is all about.

Gig Harbor third baseman and outfielder Blake Cantu said it was cool to win the district championship.

“I knew our team could make it really far,” Cantu said. “I just thought it was great because we were the second best in the whole state. That’s pretty amazing.”

Throughout the experience, Cantu said he learned to always stay positive, because even against Eastlake, they came back to win.

“Everyone had a little part to do, and when everyone did their job, that’s when we can win,” Cantu said.

Gagliardi was behind the plate for the entire state tournament, working with his pitchers to get through some tough batting lineups.

“It was fun to be around all my friends and play against really good teams,” Gagliardi said. “I learned that everyone has to work together to get a win. It’s not just one person.”

It took all of them to get there.