This summer, 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars were “the boys of summer”, winning state and regional titles, and playing in the World Series.

Led by the power arm and bat of freshman Jared Burrows,  alongside classmate and All-World Series team member, Ryan O’Connell, the team bulldozed its way through the district, state, and regional tournaments only losing one game in that stretch, while outscoring its opponents 94-18 in their ten games prior to the World Series.

The team has been its opponents worst nightmare the last two years, winning a Little League State and District Championship title in 2015 and nearly making a Little League World Series appearance. It took a walk off home run by Rhode Island to send them home that year. The teams faced off in the 2016 Regional finals with Waterford redeeming itself by mercying Cranston, 12-2.

O’Connell said, “We’ve played together for so long that we’ve pretty much made each other better and that’s helped us win more games.”  

However, not all of the team’s victories came easy. In the Regional Semifinal, the score was 8-7 in favor of Waterford going into the last inning in its meet-up with Massachusetts. The Massachusetts team had the tying run on third base but Waterford tip-toed their way out of elimination and into the regional championship game, which they later ended up winning.

“That was the most nervous I was during that run,” said O’Connell. “That could’ve ended our season.”

O’Connell was not the only who got nervous during these games. Alyson Sanford, older sister of freshman Matt Sanford, the starting first baseman, felt stressed as well.

She said, “Every game gave me anxiety, but most of the time everyone ended up happy when the game was over.”

The team also took earned the Sportsmanship Award at the World Series, an award voted on by the participants of the tournament.