Tri-Cities Little League claims 2 state titles
An impromptu parade led 11-year-old Kaeden Wagenaar and his Tri-Cities Little League teammates through the streets of West Dundee Saturday, in celebration of two state championship titles claimed by the league's teams this month.
The league's All Star 10-U and 11-U teams made history this summer, marking the first season two Tri-Cities teams have won state titles, League President Jeff Scheider said.
"I think for our team, they never gave up," Scheider said. "We had our second-to-last game where they got down early and they never gave up and kept fighting back."
The 11-U All Stars beat Streator to the championship Saturday in a 7-1 game in Streamwood. The 10-U team earned its title Thursday in a 9-0 game against River Forest.
Kaeden pitched a complete game Saturday. Next year, he and the rest of his 11-U teammates will be eligible to compete at a regional level.
"My favorite part was probably when I would pitch and they would always make great plays," Kaeden said.
Matt Bubala, the league's vice president of operations, said Kaeden's pitching kept the opposing team off balance throughout the game, but winning the state title was an all-team effort.
"These kids basically give up their summer to try to pursue something like this," Bubala said.
Saturday's celebrations were just a taste of the communitywide recognition to come, Bubala said.
"It's really neat that the community gets involved like that and supports," Bubala said. "In today's world you look for ways to pull a community together. We're pretty divided in the world right now."
Members from both teams have been invited to set off the canon Sunday at Carpentersville's Civil War re-enactment in Carpenter Park, league spokeswoman, Linda Prestia said.
West Dundee Mayor Christopher Nelson also has plans to host a special board meeting at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21 to recognize the teams' successes and officially name Aug. 25 Tri-Cities Little League Day, Prestia said.
Another Tri-Cities team became a state champion in February 2015 after Jackie Robinson West, a South Side Chicago team, was stripped of the 2014 title due to boundary violations by some of the team's players. The 2015 championship team also will be recognized at the Aug. 21 meeting, Prestia said.
With two state titles under its belt, Prestia hopes the league can garner enough support to raise the money needed to buy field lights so they can host future tournaments and draw tourist traffic to the area.
"The amount of dedication and talent that we are able to produce from our league, it's something that's really important as we continue our fundraising initiative for the lights," Prestia said. "The league doing really well is a really good thing for the community," Prestia said.
For now, Bubala said the 10- and 11-year-old state champions have their minds on only one thing: celebrating.
"I keep telling them, 'Stop and look at each other. Thirty years from now you're going to be getting together, having a beer and talking about this,'" he said. "I try to get them to all stop and soak it all in."
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