Vine-Ingle team makes Little League World Series for second straight year

A group of Vine-Ingle Little League players reached a milestone last year.

This time around, they’re on a mission.

After making it to the Little League World Series in the Intermediate League last year, the Macon squad moved up to the Junior League and reached the World Series for a second year in a row.

After winning the region championship and state championship here in Georgia, the team of 14-year-olds played in Virginia and won the district title to advance to this year’s World Series in Michigan.

Lance Foster, the team’s head coach and Vine-Ingle’s baseball vice president, said the group knowing each other from last year’s World Series run made this year’s success happen.

“We had 10 players return from last year and three new players, and even those three players who were technically new were pretty familiar with a lot of the guys on the team already,” he said. “Lots of these guys are in school together, they play travel ball with each other, it’s just a tight-knit group. That helps them play better.”

Macon schools like ACE, Tattnall and FPD are represented on the team. The group played together as 13-year-olds last season in Little League’s Intermediate level, which meant they had to move up to Junior League this year upon turning 14. 

The league change is more than just an age difference, though — the Junior League features 90-foot basepaths and a mound that’s 60 feet and 6 inches from home plate. Intermediate League features only 50 feet from the mound to home plate and 70-foot basepaths.

“The league change was different, but these guys play on fields like that for school and for travel ball, so they had the necessary experience,” Foster said. “On top of that, these guys are competitors. It’s a different division, but for them it’s the same as last year, and they feel like they have more to accomplish.

“They felt like the job wasn’t done from last season. They wanted to get back to the World Series, and now they want to win some games.”

The group has already managed to create some memorable moments. The first of three tournaments they had to win to make the World Series, the region, was held at Mercer University.

“Travel is far from a given for a lot of these families, so it meant a lot to us coaches and the players that their parents and friends and families could come watch them easily in that region tournament,” Foster said.

The team then travelled to Winder for the state tournament, where they dropped their first game 3-0 against Hart County and had to go on a run to escape the loser’s bracket. Vine-Ingle subsequently won five-straight games, including having to defeat Hart County twice in a row, to secure the Georgia championship.

“Since we lost to them at the beginning, we had to play them twice to win the trophy. That’s tough for any team, to beat the same people twice in a row,” Foster said. “We beat them 11-0 in the first rematch, then we had to turn around and play them again with it all on the line.”

The team started Charlie Kemp on the mound, then put in cleanup hitter and key player Jayden Cannon to finish things off. With a 6-4 lead and two outs in the seventh and final inning, Cannon got a strikeout to complete the winning streak and win Vine-Ingle the state title.

“When Jayden struck that last guy out and they all dog-piled on him celebrating, that was amazing. That’s the type of thing that sticks in your head,” Foster said.

Another memory Foster recalls with ease came in the next stage, the district tournament all the way up in Bridgewater, Virginia, when a player of smaller stature came up with some big plays.

“Micah Harris, he’s one of the smaller kids on the team, but he’s such a huge contributor. He can really play. At one of those district games, there were a couple of balls hit in the gap,” Foster said. “I mean, these ones looked like they were gonna be hits and swing the game against us.

“He just went all-out. He ‘Superman’ed for those balls and saved the game from going the other way.”

The plays demonstrated one of the team’s biggest strengths, in Foster’s opinion: its depth. The Vine-Ingle squad boasts 13 players that all contribute in key ways every game, the head coach said.

Indeed, the whole offense has clicked. Across the three tournaments so far, the team has scored 20 or more runs in three different games and scored more than 15 runs two additional times. 

The pitching has pulled its weight as well, limiting opponents to five runs or less in all but two games. The squad has also tossed a pair of shutouts, one in the district tournament at Mercer and another in the state tournament in Winder.

The squad now advances to the World Series in Taylor, Michigan, about 20 minutes south of Detroit. Other states represented include Texas, Delaware, Illinois and, of course, Michigan. International teams like Panama, Germany, Puerto Rico, Chinese Taipei and Australia will also participate.

“They have the experience now going on a road trip like this. Last year they went out to California, and they learned a lot from that experience,” Foster said. “There will be some really talented teams up there and we’re just ready to go compete.”

The tournament begins Sunday, though the Vine-Ingle team’s first game on the schedule as of Wednesday morning is set for Monday against an opponent to be determined. Tournament games can be streamed online via ESPN+.

The team’s travel, food and housing are paid for by Little League International, though family and friends still have to cover their own expenses if they want to follow the team.

Either way, the experience is a fun one for a group of kids who know each other — and the game of baseball — well.

“It’s really just a way for these kids to play with each other outside of that pressure of school ball or travel ball. We only just started this a year ago, where the older kids can keep playing Little League baseball specifically,” Foster said. “I think that opportunity is what draws them back. It’s a fun experience for kids who are passionate about baseball and just love playing together.”