SUBMITTED PHOTO - Medicine Hat and Puerto Rico players pose at the ping pong table after their game at the Junior Little League World Series Sunday in Taylor, Mich.
Following are the first three days’ edited social media posts from Medicine Hat Little League direct from the Junior Little League World Series in Taylor, Mich.
The Hat all-stars play Latin America’s champions from Tamaulipas, Mexico this morning starting at 9 a.m. our time in a must-win game. Tamaulipas lost 7-4 to Chinese Taipei Monday despite leading 4-2 through five innings.
The winner would need to win three more in a row to reach Sunday’s final.
Day 1
Friday was a travel day. The boys left Medicine Hat at 4:45 a.m. and took the Big League bus to Calgary airport. The team flew from Calgary to Windsor, Ont. and then caught a bus to Taylor, Michigan. The boys had their first chance to see the diamond tonight and then it was early night. Opening ceremonies are (Saturday) at 8 p.m. local time.
Games can be watched live at the Silver Buckle this week! First game is Sunday at 2 p.m. local time.
Day 2
Things got real today! The boys received their Team Canada gear and met players from all over the world. The opening ceremonies were tonight and all 12 teams were introduced.
Team Canada is Waylan Watson, Trevin Ressler, Koby Eskestrand, Kevan Schafer, Kayne Olinski, Jeff Bullock, Hayden King, Graceon Little, Colbin Unreiner, Caleb Garrecht, Cade Harrison and Aidan Nelson. The other international teams are from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Italy, Australia and Taiwan. The American teams are from Michigan, Oklahoma, Iowa, California, Maryland and Florida.
Team Canada plays (Sunday) at noon MST vs Puerto Rico. The Silver Buckle will be playing the game and it can also be viewed on ESPN+ (editor’s note: you need to be Internet-savvy and use a VPN service to watch on ESPN; it doesn’t work normally from here in Canada).
Day 3
Team Canada played Puerto Rico this afternoon (Sunday). It was a tough 4-0 loss but our boys played great. After the game, both teams ate supper and played ping pong together. This is about more than just baseball, the players are making friends and being good sports.
Medicine Hat is well represented at this tournament. Every player has their parents here, along with some siblings and grandparents. Little League Alberta District 4 administrator Candice Henson, along with Chuck Henson and Lovell McDonnell also made the trip to cheer on our boys.
Thanks for everyone’s support. The boys love it and they are making the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
