Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
ANTHONY GAGLIANOThe triumphant Junior League champions return from Michigan to find school and work waiting for them.
Somewhere nestled between the dirty cleats and a few old baseballs in Michael Lashbrook's baseball bag sits a gold medal.
In the hectic days since Lashbrook and the baseball team from Palma Ceia/Bayshore returned home as Junior League World Series champions, there hasn't been much time to unpack. For one, there's the two weeks of school the he and his teammates missed as they romped through the South Region in Cartersville, Ga., and on to Taylor, Mich., and the World Series.
So, perhaps now isn't the time to sit and look back at the memories. But, some day there will be a chance to reflect.
"Definitely, it was an accomplishment," Lashbrook said. "It's awesome to think about."
"It really hasn't sunk in," manager Dan Kirkwood said. "It's neat to say we're World Series champs. They can never take that away."
ESPN2 recorded the game and will show it at 11 a.m. today to give the coaches, parents and players another chance to hang on to the moment and the sports world a chance to see the country's best Junior League team.
In the meantime, though, life moves on. Jobs and business, neglected for two weeks, are demanding attention and the boys have gone back to being high school freshmen, catching up on school and football.
"I went back to work and I forgot what that was like," Kirkwood said. "For the last two months, Little League has been my work."
The 13- and 14-year-olds from Palma Ceia/Bayshore made it seem more like play, going 23-1 during their run to the title. In joining Belmont Heights (1982) and Tampa Bay (1985) as the only other teams from Hillsborough County to win the Junior League World Series, PC/Bayshore shattered numerous records.
PC/Bayshore belted 14 homers in six games at the World Series, breaking the old record of 12 that had stood since 1983. While the other nine teams combined for just seven home runs, Peto Kirkwood hit five, tying a World Series record, and Lashbrook added four of his own. Lashbrook batted .652, with a record 15 hits, while he and Peto Kirkwood tied the record for runs in the tournament with 11.
PC/Bayshore established new team marks for runs with 56 and hits with 74.
"Every coach and every parent says my team is good enough to go to the World Series," assistant Wil Ramos said. "You know what, though, this team really was. They turned that dream into a reality."
The dream had been just out of the team's grasp for quite some time. Three times in the past five year's the combined group of Palma Ceia and Bayshore, which doesn't have its own junior field so the two South Tampa leagues merge for All-Stars, has advanced to Cartersville and the South Regional only to fall short.
A year ago, the team reached the South Regional final, but just Kirkwood and Lashbrook returned from that squad.
"Definitely, it made me want it more," Lashbrook said. "It made me play the best I could."
Next year, there will be a completely new face of the team. Only Ramos' son, Graham, was 13 this year, so it will fall to a new group to follow up on that success.
For this year's squad, high school ball, Legion teams and travel clubs will all come calling come next spring. But, no matter the direction, they have this bond between each other.
"This is a pretty close-knit group," Ramos said. "I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple years, they make some noise in the senior division."
"That's the thing with Little League," Kirkwood said. "They all live in the same zone, the same neighborhoods. They all live in the same vicinity, go to the same schools. They see each other all the time. As opposed to AAU, where you can have one team from all over the county, this was a localized thing."
Both leagues will honor the team sometime in September. It could be the final time all of their paths cross at once. But even if all they have left are memories of one week in Taylor, it will be worth it.
"It was everything you could imagine and more," Ramos said.