The Final Out [Video Highlight via Bradley-Bourbonnais Baseball’s Facebook]
For the Bradley Bourbonnais baseball organization, August 1st, 2019 will forever be known as the day that completed the “Magical summer of the 8-10-year-old All-Stars.”
The Bradley Bourbonnais 8-10-year-old All-Star team won the state Little League baseball tournament with a stellar 9-4 victory over the Jackie Robinson West little league All-Stars of Chicago. This was the first championship in the 8-10-year-old division in Bradly-Bourbonniais history.
The game provided plenty of excitement as a packed crowd witnessed the All-Stars battle back from an early 3-0 deficit to win 9-4 over a very good Jackie Robinson West team. The championship game featured standout performances from Grady Trammel, Liam Martin, Nick Pignatiello, Gaige Brown, and Noah Drake.
The 9-4 victory was the final act in a storied tournament run that began with an 8-7 victory over Hinsdale. Team Manager Wes Andrews noted that the signature moment of the tournament was a Grand Slam by Liam Martin after being down 7 to 4 in the fourth inning with two outs in the opening game vs Hinsdale.
Andrews chose this moment as the team’s signature moment, because, after Martin’s grand slam, he pitched the final two innings, recording 6 strikeouts to clinch the victory. Coach Andrews stated “I put him [Martin] in to pitch the last two innings, he’s a big kid, great pitcher, throws about sixty-two miles an hour, and he pitched the 5th and the 6th [inning] and recorded six strikeouts to win the game for us. Once he had the grand slam and then to come in and throw six strikeouts, I knew something special was brewing, for sure.”
Coach Andrews describes coaching his team to the State Champions as “surreal.” “We have some great players up and down the lineup. We won districts, we lost one game in the sectionals, but we battled back and took the sectional championship. Once we got here, just to see the boys play as they did in a close game, we got down, we battled back, they proved to be “a resilient group of kids.”
The 8-10-year-old division All-Star state tournament was hosted in Bourbonnais at Slater Field, which provided the Bradley-Bourbonnais All-stars the opportunity to win the state title in their back yard in front of family and friends.
Coach Andrews stated, “this victory was huge for the community”. “With travel baseball as popular as it is right now, this is why we play little league.
“There’s no travel baseball game where the community comes out in numbers like you saw here tonight. That just doesn’t happen.” After the victory, the team was celebrated in a victory parade around the neighborhood with the Bourbonnais Police and Fire Department as their escorts.”
What’s next for this little league team? “It’s about a shot at Williamsport.” Coach Andrews’ dream is to have this team play together for the next couple of seasons for an opportunity to compete in the Little League Worlds Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania as 12u All-Star Team.
Congratulations 8-10-year-old All-Stars on a magical season.
The 2019 Illinois 8-10 Year-Old Little League State Champions are:
Nolan Andrews
Ryan Barzantny
Carter Borneman
Michael Clark
Noah Drake
Tyler Leitelt
Liam Martin
Zach Merten
Nick Pignatiello
Nolan Smith
Gaige Brown
Grady Trammell
Cody Youngblood
Coaching Staff
Wes Andrews- Manager
Mike Barzantny-Coach
Bret Pignatiello-Coach
Hi, my grandson is on the BB 10u Allstar State champs. You had an awesome article on 8-2 about the team. Where can we buy this newspaper i.e. office or store or gas station? I would really appreciate info….Thanks, Mary Ann Martin
Hi Mary! Unfortunately we are not a print paper, we only offered up a commemorative copy for special events like this! If you’d like to shoot us an email to “news at country herald dot com” and we’ll provide you with a printable PDF copy!