“Most of my kids right now are freshmen and sophomores in high school,” Brosnan said. “All of them play high school baseball. We’re lucky that all five Stafford high schools have somebody on this team.”
Teams from as far away as Oregon checked into area hotels Aug. 11; pool play began Saturday, Aug. 13.
“The championships will be Saturday,” said Brosnan. Teams that have lost in pool play, including the Stafford team, will compete for the championship in the Ironman bracket, leading up to the World Series Championship game.
The trip to the World Series comes at the end of a rewarding season, with young ballplayers and their families sharing the experience.
Brosnan said his favorite memories from his teenage ball-playing days were “riding with teammates on the bus, getting to play in different places, and really being a team.”
“For these guys, we’ve been fortunate. We got to travel, and play in some tournaments, stay at a hotel, enjoy ourselves and become teammates,” said Brosnan.
Brosnan’s team probably had extra fans in the stands for Friday afternoon’s 1 p.m. game.
The Stafford County government closed for four hours, starting at 12:30 p.m. Friday, “to celebrate and support the Stafford Warriors at the Babe Ruth World Series baseball tournament in our region,” according to a news release from the county government.
“That was awesome,” said Brosnan, thanking the local government and school officials for their support.
His players had extra inspiration to reach today’s game.
“They were told if they won yesterday, they got a half-day excused absence from school, so I think that fired them up the most,” said Brosnan.
“We tried to get them every Friday off for the rest of the year, but they wouldn’t go for it,” he joked.
Unfortunetely, Stafford lost to a team from Albany, Minnesota, by a score of 4-1, and were eliminated from the tournament.
