It was a jubilant but rain-soaked celebration for Whalley Major Allstars when they clinched the 2024 Canadian Little League Championship on Thursday (Aug. 8) in Kingston, Ont.
Repping B.C., Whalley scored a 10-1 win over Team Alberta reps from Medicine Hat to advance to the fabled Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn., starting Wednesday, Aug. 14.
Whalley's big win marked a seventh national title for the club of Surrey-area baseball players.
"Now we'll have to change all of our signage at the ballpark, from six to seven, but that's a good problem to have," said club vice-president Gavin Burke, in Kingston to watch Whalley win.
"Seven (Canadian) championships in nearly 70 years is pretty good," he added.
The Stephen Young-managed team, along with parents and other supporters, will now travel to Williamsport for international competition.
Thursday in Kingston, Whalley jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and added eight runs late in the game against Team Alberta, which had allowed just three runs all tournament and beat Whalley 2-0 in the opening game for both teams.
"So proud of these boys," Young said post-game. "The last month and a half, the work they put in and fought through every level, from districts to provincials and now here at nationals, they just keep going this way (up). They're such a team unit, they rely on each other, I just don't know what to say. I'm just so happy to be able to coach these boys and be able to witness this."
At the provincial championship in Victoria late last month, Whalley beat six teams for the right to rep B.C. at the national tournament.
The roster includes Xavier Cabalfin, Ronan Bobiles, Ben Wegwitz, Eric Popovich, Blake Anderson, Marek Kluth, Kayden Krestanovich, Jozef Young, Joshua Hernstedt, Riley Suvilai, Ray Dhasi and Rye Precioso. Coaches are Stephen Young along with Eric Kluth and Jason Wegwitz.
Thursday morning at Whalley Athletic Park, a small group of Whalley supporters gathered at the team's batting cage to watch the streamed game.
At the Little League World Series, Whalley will start its play against Kuei-Shan Little League of the Asia-Pacific Region in Game 3 of the tournament at 5 p.m. (2 p.m. Surrey time) on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at Volunteer Stadium. For details visit littleleague.org/world-series.
