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Friday, Aug. 21, 2009

Community turns out to celebrate softball team’s success

WARNER ROBINS — School-night rules were out the window. These girls had everyone’s permission to stay up late. Apparently, so did their fans.

The World Series champion Warner Robins American Little League softball team rolled back into town Thursday night, and an eager crowd was waiting. In fact, these rabid fans — far from being jaded by an incredible string of success by their teams — gathered long before the red, white and blue bus bearing the team cruised into the Flint Energies Sports Complex.

“It says a lot about how much they care,” Warner Robins American Little League President Ken Hathaway said of the turnout. “What you see here tonight, on a school night, tells you why we have a successful program.”

Fresh off a 14-2 drubbing of Crawford, Texas, in Wednesday’s World Series championship game, the team flew from Portland, Ore., to Atlanta, arriving after 7 p.m. They didn’t roll back into town until after 10 p.m., and the fireworks and ensuing rally didn’t end until 11.

No matter. Warner Robins started the party without their pint-sized heroes.

Some supporters arrived at the fields before 8 p.m., and by 8:45 p.m., a group of about 100 had already gathered, many sporting fresh-out-of-the-box “World Champions” T-shirts in the team’s signature eye-catching orange, the crisp fold still evident across the shoulder and sleeve.

Even with lightning sparking in the not-so-distant sky, they kept coming. By 9 p.m. — the announced start time for the festivities but a wildly optimistic estimate for the arrival of the team — the trickle of fans became a stream. Wind snapped the Little League Softball flag and crinkled paper banners, and the air said rain even if the heart said “no way, not tonight.”

And, as with many things throughout the team’s title run, everything worked out for the best.

By 9:30 p.m., with the team still almost an hour away and threat of bad weather receding, a crowd of about 300 milled about — laughing, chatting and picking over the final few T-shirts. The cheerleaders from Bonaire Middle School took the stage, guiding the crowd through the softball team’s various championships — Georgia, Region and finally World.

A group of about 20 from Robins Air Force Base’s 78th Air Base Wing walked in en masse, their fatigues mixing with the searing orange T-shirts to form a color combination intimately familiar to the hunters in the crowd.

“The community does so much to support us,” said Chief Master Sgt. Buddy Hutchison, installation command chief for the base. “So we came out to support them.”

Several notable local figures were on hand, including State Sen. Ross Tolleson, Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker and Col. Carl Buhler, installation commander at Robins Air Force Base.

Hathaway originally planned to be well on his way to Williamsport, Pa., by Thursday night to watch the WRALL baseball team’s opener in the Little League World Series this afternoon. After thinking it through, he decided sticking around to celebrate the girls was the smart move.

Asked for a prediction on whether the boys would bring home the organization’s third 11- and 12-year-old championship since 2007, Hathaway again stayed savvy.

“Here’s my prediction,” Hathaway teased, then followed with, “win or lose, we’ll still be extremely proud of them.”

To contact Houston Editor Ryan Gilchrest, call 256-9725.