‘Twelve terrific boys’: Clarendon Hills reaches the Little League World Series
The boys of Clarendon Hills Little League felt the immensity of their achievement quickly after reaching Williamsport.
“It probably hit home today,” baseball coach Brian Herold said Friday, the day after the team bus pulled into the Little League International Complex in Pennsylvania, site of the Little League World Series.
“My hope is now we can get back to reality, get back on the practice field, and get back to the team we are, which is playing the game, practicing and just working on our craft,” Herold said.
Making its World Series debut, Clarendon Hills (19-2) opens play in Williamsport at 2 p.m. Central Time Wednesday, against Summerlin South of Las Vegas.
Either Brody Herold, Luke Schaller or Jack Kaczmarski will figure to be the starting pitcher, Brian Herold said.
All games in the double-elimination, 12-and-under tournament, Aug. 13-24, are broadcast on ESPN platforms. Information is available at littleleague.org/world-series/2025/llbws.
Clarendon Hills got to Williamsport by beating West Side Little League from Hamilton, Ohio, 9-4, in the Aug. 6 championship game of the Great Lakes Region Tournament in Whitestown, Indiana.
It also got there with the help of a GoFundMe account to support the team’s tournament expenses.
Avenging an 11-1 loss to Ohio on Aug. 4, Clarendon Hills hadn’t even won a state title until beating LaGrange Park 2-0 in Elgin on July 23.
Before the regional championship, Herold and coaches Brian O’Malley and Ted Kaczmarski pulled out the metaphors — David vs. Goliath, Herb Brooks’ speech to Team USA before the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” — to motivate the boys.
“We certainly were the David,” Herold said.
But not on that day. Behind a well-pitched outing by Schaller and Brody Herold, Clarendon Hills used Christian Gernot’s 2-run double, Sean Bolger’s 3-run double and left fielder Luca Striltschuk’s leaping, run-saving catch at the warning track to take a 9-0 lead over Ohio through five innings.
“They finally came alive,” Brian Herold said. “I think the boys seeing that is really going to help build momentum as we come into Williamsport here, which is encouraging.”
It’s the second straight year a team from the same area reached the World Series. Hinsdale Little League qualified in 2024 and was eliminated after two games.
“We’re neighbors,” said team “information officer” Josh McMahon. “It’s great to be right next door to them and to have that relationship.”
In addition to the players mentioned, Clarendon Hills includes Liam Bolger, Matthew Kalish, Connor Lazar, Jack O’Malley, Hudson Lauerman and Henry McMahon.
“Twelve terrific boys that love playing with each other,” Brian Herold said of a group that started in tee ball at 6 years old.
Though they brought out the big bats against Ohio, defense, fundamentals and poise have fueled Clarendon Hills’ journey to the Little League World Series.
“I don’t think the moment’s too big for them, I don’t think the stage is too big,” said Herold, a 1994 Montini graduate.
“When they get on the field, they’re just into the flow of the game. They’re baseball players, and they perform.”