Coach Pennington talks about Little League season and State Championship team

LA GRANDE – A parade was held yesterday evening down Adams Ave in La Grande celebrating the La Grande Little League Junior Boys on their State Championship.

Head Coach Caleb Pennington spoke with Elkhorn Media Group staff about the season and team.

(Q) Why don’t you give us a rundown of the Little League Season

(A) So, we started off with just two Little League teams for the regular season.  Both teams had a very good season, at the end of that we split up into just one team for the All-Stars.  We held tryouts for it and we got a group of 13 boys for that.

From that point, we had two weeks before our District All-Star Tournament, and we made some phenomenal progress getting to that.  We only had two other teams we had to play with, so they breezed through that.  Then they had a month off between Districts and the State Tournament.  During that time, we picked up a lot of extra games in between just to keep the kids fresh and keep things a little livelier than just practicing for a month. 

They had an absolutely great last week of practice and a couple of games before we headed to state, so we left on a high note. 

(Q) For those who don’t know, where was the state tournament held

(A)  It was held in Turner, Oregon.  The final game we played La Pine with a final score of 14-12

(Q)  What was it like as a coach watching the boys win the state title?

(A) It was absolutely a great experience.  It was definitely the highlight of these boys’ Little League careers so far and as coaches, we were just lucky enough to get to ride along with them.

(Q)  What’s next?

(A) We should be headed to regionals, but due to COVID that has been canceled.  So, this is the end of the road for the boys, unfortunately.

(Q) Anything you would like to mention?

(A) I would love to thank all the different businesses and families that sponsored to give these guys one heck of a good ride down to state.

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Coach Pennington talks about Little League season and State Championship team

LA GRANDE – A parade was held yesterday evening down Adams Ave in La Grande celebrating the La Grande Little League Junior Boys on their State Championship.

Head Coach Caleb Pennington spoke with Elkhorn Media Group staff about the season and team.

(Q) Why don’t you give us a rundown of the Little League Season

(A) So, we started off with just two Little League teams for the regular season.  Both teams had a very good season, at the end of that we split up into just one team for the All-Stars.  We held tryouts for it and we got a group of 13 boys for that.

From that point, we had two weeks before our District All-Star Tournament, and we made some phenomenal progress getting to that.  We only had two other teams we had to play with, so they breezed through that.  Then they had a month off between Districts and the State Tournament.  During that time, we picked up a lot of extra games in between just to keep the kids fresh and keep things a little livelier than just practicing for a month. 

They had an absolutely great last week of practice and a couple of games before we headed to state, so we left on a high note. 

(Q) For those who don’t know, where was the state tournament held

(A)  It was held in Turner, Oregon.  The final game we played La Pine with a final score of 14-12

(Q)  What was it like as a coach watching the boys win the state title?

(A) It was absolutely a great experience.  It was definitely the highlight of these boys’ Little League careers so far and as coaches, we were just lucky enough to get to ride along with them.

(Q)  What’s next?

(A) We should be headed to regionals, but due to COVID that has been canceled.  So, this is the end of the road for the boys, unfortunately.

(Q) Anything you would like to mention?

(A) I would love to thank all the different businesses and families that sponsored to give these guys one heck of a good ride down to state.

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