Arizona's All Stars rank sixth in the World

By Mike Bates

What a ride! Nineteen days on the road with 10 teenage girls. Six different plane flights, six different hotels or condos, 10 different states, and about 60 different bus rides.
Was it worth it? You bet! It was the experience of a lifetime for all of us. What am I talking about? The Girl’s Senior Softball Little League World Series.
I was fortunate enough to get selected to coach this talented group of your young ladies. It was the Arrowhead Senior All Stars and they were a special group. After a sixth place finish in the World Series, the numbers were amazing: a 14-3 record, outscoring the opponents 132-28 in the postseason.
Our pitchers struck out 157 batters in just 90 innings and our hitters only struck out 56 times. When the smoke had cleared the girls had made history - the first team in the Phoenix area, boys or girls to make it to the Little League World Series.
People took notice. The Governor met the team at the airport and all the news stations were there. Tim and Willy gave the girls great support the whole time with daily updates and interviews live on the radio.
Five different local channels put the team on TV, while different publications continue to do stories. The Mayor of Glendale will even be announcing a proclamation on Sept. 13th in honor of their great achievement.
The youngest team in the tournament, the girls were two games away from the title. The best thing for me was the number of my dart player friends who followed us through the stages. Many came to the State Championship games in town and called me throughout the Regionals and World Series.
I don’t know how many people congratulated me at the Master’s banquet, but it was a lot. The calls keep coming and I find myself telling the story over and over. But, I don’t mind at all. Thank you to all of you for your support, it was great to tell the girls how many people were pulling for them.