For millions of young softball and baseball players who come up through the little league system, constantly working on their games, growing with their teammates and coaches and traveling to different tournaments and ballparks, they do it with a major goal in mind: Competing in the Little League World Series against some of the best talent on the diamond that the world has to offer.
For a long time, the Little League Softball World Series was just out of Delmar’s reach. Local success, Maryland state championships and appearances at the Mid-Atlantic regionals were not out of the ordinary, but their runs typically stopped there.
But this year’s Delmar softball squad accomplished what many past, present and future little league players always dream of, a magical run to the championship game of the Little League World Series, one that featured record-breaking performances, thrilling victories and their community back home coming together to support them. And along the way, they showed that a team from Delmar could go toe-to-toe with the world’s best.
Mark Naugle, Delmar’s head coach who guided them as they went on their run through the World Series, realized that this team could be special as they continued to rack up wins against stiff competition, starting locally and going all the way through state and regional tournaments.
“Beginning of the season, you never really know what you have until you play for first game,” Naugle said during his team’s return home last week. “Berlin was one of the tougher teams we played during the whole tournament, and when we got through them like we did and went on to states and playing that competition, I knew we had something special going on. And then, once we got up to regionals and started playing those teams, it was just thinking, ‘This could actually happen. We could actually win this thing.’ “
And after winning the Mid-Atlantic Regionals for the first time in the team’s history, their performance throughout the opening rounds of the World Series brought them as close as possible to winning the whole thing.
After a 3-1 win in their opening round matchup against Missouri and a walk-off victory over Connecticut in their second game, they would defeat the team representing the Philippines in back-to-back games to advance to the title game.
And though they lost in a back-and-forth battle with Texas in the championship round, the performance of the Delmar squad throughout the five games was one that set records and provided thrills for everyone watching at home.
In their walk-off victory over Connecticut, Delmar had multiple heroes who played key roles in them winning that game. One was Kinsley Rayne, whose RBI single brought home the victory in extras. And pitcher Macy Rickards threw 18 strikeouts, the most in a Little League Softball World Series game since 2012.
The stellar performances did not end there for Rickards, who would follow up her record-setting performance with another one in the very next game, throwing a no-hitter in their 2-0 victory against the Philippines. She would pitch five complete games in their five World Series matchups and thoroughly dominate throughout.
“Coaching her was probably the easiest thing that any coach could dream of because you don’t have to motivate her to do anything,” Naugle said. “She is self-motivated, she works hard on and off-season. And she has, a cliché, ice water in her veins. Nothing gets her rattled. Everybody saw that on TV and ESPN. She’s what you think of when you think of the word competitor.”
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For Rickards, despite having to perform on that national stage and receiving some national attention on social media during her back-to-back dominant outings, there wasn’t any pressure involved when she stepped on the mound.
“It was really exciting because on the mound, I didn’t show any nerves,” Rickards said, “If they would’ve hit off of me, I knew that my team would have my back.”
It comes as no surprise that Rickards would believe in her team’s ability to have her back, as the continuity and strong chemistry that the team has was clear to anybody who followed their run to the World Series. For a lot of little league teams that compete year in and year out, the players play together on the same teams for many years, and this Delmar squad was no different.
“This group of girls have been together, most of them, for three or four years now as a team,” Naugle said. “The ones that have played together the longest, they know each other’s moves, they know what to expect, they work as a cohesive unit. It certainly showed during this tournament. We’ve been doing it since districts, states, regionals and they did the same thing during the World Series. I can’t say enough good about the team.”
Following the championship game, the softball squad returned from Greenville, North Carolina, to a police escort and a crowd full of family, friends and fans at their home softball field, celebrating their return after representing Delmar on the world softball stage.
“I knew that the town of Delmar probably had something up their sleeve because they always treat their sports teams like this, win or lose,” Naugle said. “They’re always out to support the teams, and I expected no different today. This is just a celebration. We don’t care whether we won or lost yesterday. We’re winners regardless.”
And for the town of Delmar and the future of Delmar softball, Naugle hopes that this year’s performance by his squad was just the beginning of something special.
“My hope is, and I tell a lot of people this, little league has been on the decline and travel ball has really taking the place of little league over the past 15 years or so. What I’m hoping is that the local girls see what we’ve done here and maybe they want to try and get a piece of it. Maybe they want to come back next year and try to go back and get back to a regional tournament or World Series. You never know.”
