Lou Gehrig Junior Little League All-Stars prepare for East Regional
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WORCESTER – Hard work, determination, a commitment to practice and perseverance. Those are the keys in which Lou Gehrig coach John Connolly credits to his team as they prepare to travel to DuBois, Pennsylvania for the Junior Little League All-Stars East Region Tournament.
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"It feels great," Dominic Eilert said. "It's a great opportunity that we get to show people that we're great and how good we are, and we've been doing this. I've been playing for Lou Gehrig for a long time, so it's a good feeling to play with these kids, but I know them and they're all good kids."
Lou Gehrig defeated North Reading in the final on July 19 in Oxford to qualify for the East Regional. Connolly believes his team's depth is what has helped them all season long.
"All my kids can pitch," Connolly said. "I've got a lot of pitching depth. We've very strong. I think our biggest strength is our lineup. We can hit one through 12. We don't have a weak spot in our lineup. My 12 hitter is as good or close as good enough to my leadoff hitter."
The team's depth was tested in a game at Fitton Field, in which they found themselves short-staffed.
"It was a very adverse game, Connolly said. "We were short on players. Our ninth player came in the 11th hour. We had nine players that game, so shorthanded. I didn’t get to warm them up the way I liked. It was very difficult.”
The game went to extra innings where Noah Connolly, John's son, hit a walk-off double to left-center.
Noah will get the ball Saturday in Pennsylvania, where they will face the champions from New Jersey at 8 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.
Coach Connolly said he didn't want to be biased, but he believes his son is the one who can lead the team to victory, but if Noah gets into trouble, John knows his entire team can pick up the slack.
"I got a lot of pitchers on this team," he said. "So if somebody doesn't have it, I got somebody to go."
One of those other players is Caleb Ortiz, an eighth grader from Webster Middle School. Ortiz believes fielding is the beat aspect of his game, but it was his bat that helped power his team. In the semifinals, he ripped a shot in the gap to right-center that rolled all the way to the fence.
Eilert, a student at St. Paul, showcased his power during pool play when he hit an inside-the-park home run against Holden during pool play at Vernon Hill Park.
"It was a gap shot up the right-center field and it rode to the fence," Ellert said.
"We have a lot of power in the lineup," Connolly said. "We have speed in the lineup. So we're going to get on base. We're gonna be smart on the bases. We've gonna be stealing, and we're gonna score runs."
Most of the players still live in the city, but some, like Ortiz, do not. However, moving away didn't stop them from loving Worcester and feeling pride for representing their hometown.
"Some of them moved out, but the way it works, once you're in a league, you can stay in the league if you're there for a certain amount of time," Connolly said. "So some people moved out of the neighborhood, but we all started here, and a lot of the kids that we still have that moved out of the neighborhood still want to be part of the league and part of the team."
So it's off to DuBois to do the city proud.
"It feels great, Dominic said. "It's a great opportunity that we get to show people that we're great and how good we are, and we've been doing this. I've been playing for Lou Gehrig for a long time, so it's a good feeling to play with these kids, but I know them and they're all good kids."
When they haven't been at practice, the Lou Gehrig players have been out around Worcester trying to get donations to offset the cost of their trip to the East Regionals. The team has set up a GoFundMe page to help as well.
‒Contact Mike Shattuck at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Lou Gehrig Junior Little League All-Stars prepare for East Regional