August 12, 2011 – By Sarah L. Greenhalgh, The Winchester Star
Evan Thatcher (left) and Josh Bogdan of the Hickory Hornets, the Middle Atlantic 10-year-old Babe Ruth League Regional Champions from Harford County, Md., swing T-shirts like baseball bats on the Loudoun Street Mall Thursday night. The team will be playing in the Cal Ripken 10-Year-Old World Series.
(Photo by Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star)
Winchester baseball players toss coins into the fountain on the Loudoun Street Mall on Thursday night and wish aloud for a World Series win in the Cal Ripken 10-Year-Old World Series. From right are Aaron Banks, Cam Mintz and Cris Burger.
(Photo by Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star)Winchester- Teams from across the country began arriving here Thursday for the 2011 Cal Ripken 10-Year-Old World Series.
This is the first time the city has hosted a World Series.
Ten teams, from as far away as California and Oregon, will play in the series, which starts Saturday and culminates with a championship game Aug. 20.
About 20 players and their families gathered Thursday night on the Loudoun Street Mall to meet each other and watch an outdoor showing of the the 1994 movie “Angels in the Outfield.”
The boys were full of energy and looking forward to playing on the newly sodded Yost Field in Jim Barnett Park.
“It’s really nice,” Cameron Kalandros, 10, of Harford County, Md., said of the field. “It looks like a major a league field. I can’t wait to play.”
One home run hitter, Trent Gast-Woodard, is eyeing a certain part of Yost Field.
“I really, really like those fences,” he said with a smile.
His coach, Ken Bogdan, believes he can hit a few balls over them.
“He can do it,” Bogdan said. “All Trent needs to do is hit it about 200 feet. He has it in him.”
Bogdan, who is coaching the team from Hickory, Md., said his players had to make some changes and relearn their pitching stances in preparation for the World Series.
“We don’t pitch off the mound in Maryland,” Bogdan said. “It was a hard adjustment, but they have adapted nicely. We’re not fixing what ain’t broke, it’s just a foot release and about throwing harder.”
He added: “I think it helps that they think it’s cool and fun.”
Bogdan has been coaching for about six years. He’s pretty sure a team from Hickory has never made it to this level, and stardom does have its perks.
“It’s been great,” Bogdan said. “They are little superstars. The Orioles sent us tickets to a game and [we] got to meet some of the players. The boys got some autographs and were all up on the Jumbotron.”
Bogdan says the boys are learning what it’s like to be serious athletes and how to act like one.
Cameron’s mother, Barb Kalandros of Bel Air, Md., said the team didn’t know until the last minute that it was going to play in the World Series.
Cal Ripken Baseball is the age 4-12 division of the Babe Ruth League.
“I think we were the final team picked to go, so we only had about 10 days to raise the money for this trip,” she said.
Each traveling team had to raise about $16,000.
“We were lucky,” Kalandros said. “We were able to get some donations from some banks, a 50/50 raffle and Five Guys helped us out.”
When they aren’t practicing, players on the Maryland team have been relaxing in the hotel, meeting players from other states and playing some games of strategy.
“We play poker,” Cameron said, smiling.
His coach says he is good at it.
Opening ceremonies for the World Series, complete with fireworks, will be at 7 tonight at Yost Field.
The first game is 1:30 p.m. Saturday, with the host team from Winchester taking on a team from Mineral Area, Mo., at 7:30 p.m. Play continues throughout the week.
A one-day pass to attend the games at Yost Field is $5 per person and free for children age 3 and under. Individual passes for the week are $25, and family passes are $50.
- Contact Sarah L. Greenhalgh at sgreenhalgh@winchesterstar.com
