By James Lomuscio
Georgia Rojas found it nerve wracking as she watched Westport’s Little Leaguers, now the New England team, trail South Nashville, Tenn. by a score of 2 to 1 in the Litttle League World Series game tonight in Williamsport, Pa.
Ruth Whelan, wife of Assistant Coach Tom Whelan, was among those cheering on the team at the Black Duck. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“It’s stressful, very stressful,” said Rojas, who watched with her daughter Emma and her daughter’s friend Sophie at the Westport Library.
They were among the 37 who had gathered in the library’s McManus Room to watch the game on one of the biggest screens in town.
“I hope so, I do,” said Emma about the chance of her friends winning tonight. “But, Tennessee is good.”
Not that good, as Westport bested the Southeast team 3 to 2 as cheers sounded around town.
“They won!” shouted Zach Iannocone who watched the game with his father Buck Iannocone at the Black Duck, which was standing room only.
Also in the Black Duck crowd was Ruth Whelan, wife of the team’s assistant coach,Tom Whelan. “I’m with about 22 of my friends here at the Duck to root the team on,” she said.
Westport’s boys of summer will face off against Sammamish, Wash., the Northwest team, on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“This is a memory I will take back with me to Sydney,” said Adolph Meyer, a native of Australia in town visiting his daughter Heide Lyme and watching the game at the Black Duck.
The game seemed a toss up until the fifth inning. That was when Ricky Offenberg, the first at bat, hit one out of the park, evening the score.
“That’s why it’s stressful,” said Rojas back at the library. “It’s tied.”
“There’s hope; there’s always hope,” said Heli Stagg, the library’s retail manager.
The hope continued as Westport’s Chris Drbal continued to foul pitch after pitch.
“He’s staying alive,” said Stagg.
Alive enough to finally hit one to get to first base. And later Westport’s noted young pitcher Chad Knight, who had earlier gotten a shout out from the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, hit one across the diamond driving Drbal home to roars from the crowd in the McManus Room.
At the top of the sixth, it was a quick three outs for Tennessee, making Westport the winners in the first Little League World Series game.
There was some concern at the game’s start that Knight might be slowed down after being struck by the ball while sliding into third base.
“It clipped him on the back of the neck,” said Jim Marpe, a Republican nominee for first selectman who had gathered with fellow Republicans Bob Zappi, Desiree Soli, and Dewey Loselle at the Black Duck.
“The ball bounced off his neck,” Loselle chimed in.
Jim Curran and his wife Stacie were with their son and his friends at the Black Duck, all them them sporting t-shirts with the names of Westport’s Little League champs.
“Will they win tonight?” Curran asked at the game’s start. “Hell yeah!
“We came here last week, and they won, and if we don’t come every time, it’s bad luck,” Curran said. “So far, they’re winning.”
