The "Red Sea: A Dream Almost Realized" Story

Fans from Red Land create a Red Sea of supporters for the team.

It was an ordinary day.  Watching the Little League World Series on TV and cheering for the Red Land team who is from nearby Lewisberry, Pennsylvania.  Lewisberry is a borough in York County, PA with a population of 385.  Yep, you read that correctly.  One of the best Little League Teams in the entire world comes from a small town on the back roads of York County.  But, boy do they know how to play baseball.  

Chayton Krauss is mobbed after winning the game with
a single to right field.  Photo taken from ABC TV.

Yesterday they became the first Pennsyl- vania team in 30 years to win the United States titile and if they can possibly beat Japan in the Little League World Series Championship game at 3:00 PM today, they will become the first Pennsylvania team to be champs since Levittown won the title in 1960.  The U.S. Championship game was won by Red Land 3-2 when they beat Pearland, Texas in the 6th inning when 12-year-old Chayton Krauss drove a single to right field and Branden Kolmansberger, who had walked to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a one-out single by Jaden Henline, scored the winning run.  

Traffic was terrible outside the stadium in Williamsport.

Bedlam broke out amonst the record crowd of 45,716 fans who were mostly from Lewisberry.  The "Red Sea" of shirts was a constant reminder to the team that they were backed to the hilt by their fan base.  Red Land scored a remarkable 276 runs during their tournament travels while giving up only 23.  The Little League World Series is an annual event held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania which is exactly 99.3 miles from Lewisberry.  

When I traveled to Lamade Stadium I managed to take
a photo of the sign in front of the complex.

Traffic was expected to be so heavy yesterday with people from south-eastern Pennsyl- vania traveling to Williams- port that we saw a traffic notice on a portable sign on Route 222 a mile from our home in Lancaster.  I'm sure traffic will be even worse today with the fans known as the Red Sea coming from all over Pennsylvania.  

Photo taken from the press box in the stadium.

I hope they do well today against Japan and can realize their dream of winning the champion- ship.  You can watch the game on USA TV on the ABC network.  It was back in the mid-1950s that I had my dream of playing in the Little League World Series, but never had the chance to follow that dream.  About a year and a half ago I finally had the chance to visit South Williamsport and walk through the totally empty Howard J. Lamade Stadium on a cold March day.  

 Standing in right field listening to the crowd cheer for me!

I could almost hear the crowd noise as I jumped the fence in right field and ran onto the field.  As I stood in right field looking toward home plate I envisioned a fly ball coming my way, catching it and firing to home plate to gun down the runner trying to score from third to win the game.  I know my dream will never be realized, so I'm pulling for the 13 boys from Red Land and their Red Sea fans to win it for me and give me the thrill of a lifetime.  I can almost smell the popcorn!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an oridnary guy.