‘We couldn’t be more proud of these boys’: Media Little League still alive after dropping 1st World Series game

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The Media Little League team lost its first game in the Little League World Series (LLWS) in South Williamsport on Wednesday night.

Needville Little League, which was representing the U.S. Southwest Region, managed to overcome a loud and spirited Delaware County crowd and defeat Media’s athletes 2-1.

But the Delco team and its supporters aren’t done yet.

Because the tournament is double elimination, Media Little League has another shot at keeping its championship hopes alive. The team will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the loser of the match between the Northwest Region and the New England Region.

When asked during the post-game press conference what he told his young competitors following the loss, Media Manager Tom Bradley said he told them to “relax.”

“It’s our first loss of the season,” Bradley said. ”It’s the very first time. They haven’t experienced that. And then under this stage, like the atmosphere was awesome. There was a ton of people out there cheering us on and stuff and everybody wanted to do good.”

Media’s players did not attend the press conference after the game, which is customary for the LLWS, but a question about Media’s large crowd of supporters was one of the first ones lobbed at Needville Little Leaguers.

“It felt better because I feel like I play better whenever it’s a louder crowd — like more pressure,” said D.J. Jablonski, Needville’s pitcher. “And then especially whenever they’re against you, it’s like you’ve got to work a little bit harder.”

More than 15,000 people packed into Howard J. Lamade Stadium to watch the Media Little League game.

Win or lose, the massive crowd from Media was more than proud of their young Little Leaguers.

Rob Haenn, 50, and Paola Haenn, 47, were overjoyed to see their son, Charlie, and his teammates make it this far.

“We couldn’t be more proud of these boys,” Rob said. “They’ve been just battling all summer and pulling for each other, and they’ve just been a real good team. So we lost tonight, but they’re still a team and they’ll move on together.”

Paola said the experience getting all the way to South Williamsport has been a “whirlwind” but that everyone is happy to be together to support their kids.

“We’re so proud of [Charlie]” Paola said. “He’s been battling just like everybody else. And these boys really, truly do love each other. So it’s been really fun to watch them all together.”

Martine Dempsey, 69, is Trevor Skowronek’s “grammy,” and she came all the way from Harrison, Tennessee to see him. She said it was a long trip on the airplane, but that it was worth every minute.

“The whole team is outrageous,” she said. “They are so good. And Trevor puts his all into everything every day, and he can hit home runs all the time. Today was just a bad day, I guess. But he’ll come back. I can’t wait for him to hit that home run so I can see it.”

Media Little League is the 36th Pennsylvania team to compete in the LLWS. Since the Mid-Atlantic Region was established in 2001, only one team from the region has won the whole tournament — Maine-Endwell Little League from New York.

A team from Pennsylvania has only won the LLWS four times in the entire 76-year history of the youth sports event. The last time a Keystone State won was 1960. If Media Little League can win the whole thing, the group of Media kids would end a 63-year-drought.

Bradley said the key to winning is to lose the nerves.

“They’re putting the pressure on themselves and not really just relaxing and having fun playing the game,” he said. ”So they need to have fun.”