Ask anyone who ever played little league baseball what their ultimate goal and dream was. Chances are they would likely tell you that it would be to play in the Little League World Series. It is the ultimate stage in little league baseball, and only the slightest fraction of kids who lace up the cleats and hop over the chalked white lines ever get the honor to say they participated. Every year, there are around two million kids that participate in little league softball and baseball around the US and the world. Yet only a few hundred will make their way to Williamsport each year to compete on the biggest platform the game has.
Sioux Falls is one of those lucky groups of players that has played their way throughout the regional bracket and into the final grouping, however, Sioux Falls is no stranger to this event. This team’s success marks the fourth time Sioux Falls has made it to Williamsport in the past eight years, but that stat doesn’t make today any less special for those kids or for the state of South Dakota. If there is one thing South Dakotans are, it is proud. Not in the sense of hubris, but in the way it’s members love to rally behind their own and live vicariously through moments like this. It’s the positive representation of the state that gets folks so thrilled to see something like this take place.
The Little League World Series is aimed at giving these young players the full on MLB experience, only as a little leaguer. The fields are essentially MLB stadiums on a smaller scale with the below-ground dugouts, the perfectly manicured diamonds, clubhouses for the teams to retreat to, and massive crowds of thousands of patrons in attendance. Not to mention, the games are broadcast on ESPN, the largest sports network in the world. The LLWS rises to the occasion and meets all the criteria to make sure this is the most memorable weekend of these kids lives. You often hear MLB players who played in the LLWS talk about how that experience was still one of the greatest they have ever experienced. An experience that South Dakota will take part in tonight.
South Dakota represents the Midwest region, and got to this point by beating North Dakota 6-0 in the regional championship. Their first opponent will be Pennsylvania, and they will face off tonight on ESPN at 6 PM.
Team photo provided by South Dakota News Watch
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