The Washington State Little League tournament starts today in Lynnwood with excitement and fanfare.
But this year is different, it marks the 40th anniversary that an underdog team from Kirkland beat Taiwan to win the Little League World Series.
It was 1982, and Northwest Newsradio Sports Anchor Bill Swartz was a twenty-something play-by-play announcer for the Kirkland games, “They were school yard buddies, they had a superstar and every time he took the mound, they believed they could beat anybody on the planet, and they did !!!”
That superstar was a big kid with a big arm and a big bat. 12 year-old Cody Webster stood 5 feet 7inches tall and weighed 174 pounds.
This year’s state tournament features new teams with new dreams. But the legend of Kirkland still looms large, “knowing the Kirkland team 40 years ago won the whole thing makes it real, makes it feel like it can happen to them, right!?” says Sean Daily is president of the Woodinville Little League.
For the kids from Kirkland this was heady stuff. “Now, as the Taiwanese team takes the field,” ABC Sports announcer Jim McKay set the stage in dramatic fashion, but no one expected the kids from the eastside of Lake Washington to beat the mighty team from Taiwan.
“They were talented, but first and foremost they had a great friendship, on and off the field,” Swartz still marvels at their team chemistry “they faced a lot of enormous challenges, whether it was 100-degree weather in San Bernardino, California or going back in foreign territory (Williamsport, PA) and taking on the Taiwanese who were invincible at the time.”
The Woodinville little leaguers are embracing the possibilities, “it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to make it to state and potentially make it to regionals and the ultimately goal to make it to Williamsport,” says Daily “just enjoy the ride and have fun.”
The 40-year similarities are almost haunting. 2022 is much like 1982: crippling oil prices, a struggling economy, a threat from Russia, “Kirkland was a huge upset moment and a feel-good in the United States of America” Swartz says “and I kind of think we need that again just as a rallying point.”
PLAY BALL !
