‘This is huge’: Henderson advances to Little League World Series
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Henderson on Friday became the second Nevada team to reach the Little League World Series, doing so by defeating Snow Canyon of Utah 10-0 in the Mountain Region final.
“We were good, but obviously not as good as these kids,” said Henderson manager Ryan Gifford, 47, who 36 years ago played on the first Henderson Little League All-Star team. “I dreamt of this as a kid. This is what they all dream about. This is unbelievable.”
Henderson now follows 2014 United States champion Mountain Ridge as Nevada teams to make the World Series. And did so in dominant fashion.
Gifford’s 12-year-old son, Nolan, pitched a no-hitter while striking out 11.
Utah’s only baserunner came via an error. There was also a fly out to right field. Other than that, all strikeouts. All K’s.
“Just keep throwing strikes,” Nolan said. “This is crazy. It’s unreal. We came out and played the way we should. This is huge for Henderson.”
The run by Mountain Ridge gripped Las Vegas like few sports stories have. The team was named U.S. champions after a team from Chicago was stripped of the title for using ineligible players.
The star of that Mountain Ridge team, UNLV fifth-year senior outfielder Austin Kryszczuk, tweeted shortly after the final out Friday: “Congrats to the boys at Henderson little league! Go and enjoy and have a blast!”
Henderson opens play in the World Series at noon PT Wednesday (ESPN) against Metro Region champion Smithfield, Rhode Island, at famed Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
They will have a chance with pitching and hitting like Friday.
Henderson scored three runs in each of the second and third innings and four more in the fourth, totaling nine hits on the afternoon, to end the game in the fourth on the margin-of-victory rule.
The young Gifford was just dominant. At one point, he struck out seven straight, his fastball unhittable for the kids from Utah.
Arlie Daniel is a first baseman who went 2-for-2 for Henderson with a double and RBI.
“It means a lot because Henderson has never been this far,” Daniel said. “I thought this game was going to be a lot closer.”
When it was over, when his team had taken its victory lap around Al Houghton Stadium, when pictures had been snapped and family members had celebrated from the stands, Ryan Gifford gathered his players in left field with this message:
“I just told them to enjoy it,” he said. “They’re 12 years old. They put in a lot of work. As you get older, some stop playing baseball. Some of these kids will play for a long time, but maybe some have their days numbered. For all of them, I just want them to enjoy the moment.”
It has been said your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave others. The one Mountain Ridge wrote that late August in 2014 struck a prideful note across the city. Watch parties grew with each passing game and 14 boys became overnight celebrities across the valley.
Now, another Nevada team will make the journey to Williamsport.
“We have some big shoes to fill from that Mountain Ridge team,” Gifford said. “That was an amazing team with some amazing athletes. We’re hoping to do the same thing as them and just keep moving on.”
Thirty-six years later, he made it.
He and a special Little League team of All-Stars from Henderson.
Contact sports columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.