When Hinsdale hit the field for Sunday’s early morning elimination game at the Little League World Series, manager Chad Wanless had a simple message for his team.
“Go out for introductions and look around and soak it in,” Wanless said. “No matter what happens, this is the experience of a lifetime. Enjoy it.”
Hinsdale’s historic run came to an end Sunday with a 4-0 loss to Staten Island, New York.
An hour afterward, however, Wanless’ team was running around the grounds collecting autographs from Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees players who arrived Sunday morning for that evening’s round of games in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“They’re starting to get some autographs and they’re starting to unwind,” Wanless said. “They’ll be back on the field (Sunday night) for a little ceremony and they’ll have great seats to watch the game. It will settle in on them that they had an amazing run the last six-to-eight weeks.”
Much like during Friday’s 5-0 loss to Hawaii, Hinsdale had its best scoring chance in the top of the first inning Sunday. In both games, Hinsdale put runners on first and second but couldn’t cash in.
That allowed the starting pitchers, in this case Staten Island’s Vincent Ruggiero, to settle in. Ruggiero went five innings, allowing two hits and no runs with seven strikeouts and no walks.
“We just did not have enough quality at-bats throughout the tournament,” Wanless said. “We wouldn’t have made it here if our bats had performed that way. Part of that goes to phenomenal pitching and part of it is baseball.”
Hinsdale starter Alex Vivanco faced traffic all day, but he limited the damage until the bottom of the fourth. Staten Island stranded four runners on base in the first three innings but long at-bats started to take a toll.
Staten Island ran up the pitch count on Vivanco, who left the game trailing only 1-0. Staten Island tacked on three more runs in the inning and shut Hinsdale down from there.
“When you have as many quality at-bats as they had, it wears on you, especially a 12-year-old,” Wanless said. “We couldn’t extend our at-bats. We just struggled to drive his pitch count up.
“We didn’t have the same outcomes.”
Ethan Chan, Kellan Goodwin and Emiliano Nepomuceno had hits Sunday for Hinsdale. Goodwin was the only Hinsdale player locked in offensively all weekend, notching three of the team’s six hits in Williamsport.
Wanless isn’t sure of his team’s travel plans to get back home but assumes they will be on a bus Tuesday morning to Hinsdale so the kids can return to school. He said a handful of the players have a football game this coming weekend.
“I am so ready to sleep in my own bed and get back to a little bit of a routine,” he said. “But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Since 2001, Hinsdale is only the third Illinois team to win the Great Lakes Regional and advance to the Little League World Series. Lemont accomplished the feat in 2006, while the Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago took the tournament by storm in 2014 before being disqualified for fielding ineligible players.
Wanless hopes Hinsdale’s run will provide a boost to the region to continue the tradition.
“We have some awfully good baseball in the western suburbs,” Wanless said. “Hopefully, it inspires them. I have a 10-year-old that won a state title with his district team. We’d love to put together a team in two years. It takes a lot of luck and a lot of skill.”
Even though the run ended earlier than they would have liked, the memories created will last a lifetime.
“It has been an eye-opening experience and a dream come true,” Wanless said.
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for the Pioneer Press.
