'These little guys are rolling': Gregg Park Rookie All-Stars earn World Series berth

Gregg Park Rookie All-Star coach Ross Sullivan called a time-out to deliver one last pep talk Tuesday afternoon.

His previous one to his 6-and-under baseball team worked, as they battled back in the fifth and final inning to tie their Diamond Youth Baseball state championship game against Hartsville Northern after a 7-3 lead turned into an 11-7 deficit with their backs against the wall.

Come to think of it, his rallying message before that one worked, too. That was when Gregg Park, which had cruised to seven consecutive wins by a combined score of 94-15, bounced back from a stunning 15-2 loss to the Midlands Rookie Ball All-Stars only to beat the same team 15-0 Tuesday morning just to earn that spot in the championship game.

Now, with it all tied up at 11 apiece with two outs and a spot in the East Regional World Series, it was time for one more message of encouragement. Only this time, he was nearly in tears because of who was on the receiving end.

The bottom part of the batting order did its job to bring up their lead-off batter, and on the first pitch Sullivan watched from the third-base box as his son Bryant sent Gregg Park to the World Series.

Bryant's walk-off double gave Gregg Park a wild 12-11 win and the DYB D1 Rookie League championship in West Columbia, sending the local All-Stars to Walterboro to keep their summer rolling.

"We had one rough inning where we fell apart and gave up six runs," Ross Sullivan explained. "They came in, and we were at the bottom of our order. I told them guys, 'Hey, man, we've got to find a way on, and we've got to figure out what we can do. Just get the next guy up. Just keep getting the next guy up.' We got to where we wanted. We got back to the top of the order. I called time-out, and my son was up to bat. I talked to him, and I said, 'Hey, man, nobody better that I want right here.' And he came through with a double."

"Best pitcher in the league," chimed in coach Neil Arbaugh, who served up the game-winner of the coach-pitch finals.

"Neil Arbaugh dialed up a double right there," Ross Sullivan added with a laugh.

That touched off a celebration that started in the Midlands, rolled back to the Valley and will resume in the Lowcountry.

It may have seemed like that was their path over the last month, especially during all of those lopsided wins - "these little guys are rolling," as Ross Sullivan put it.

But that loss Monday to Midland put them in a position they hadn't been in yet, and it's hard to predict how kids that age will respond after a loss - especially after so many run-rule wins. It certainly couldn't end like this , and they backed that up by crushing Midland less than 24 hours later to reach the title game.

"Oh man, a great bounce-back game," Ross Sullivan said. "We jumped on them really early, after the first inning up 5-0 on them as the home team and never looked back. A great bounce-back game. We hadn't really faced any adversity until yesterday afternoon, and they really put it on us. The heat and all has been bad all weekend. I mean, seven games at 5 and 6 years old is a lot. We've been playing since Sunday morning at 9 a.m., pretty much two games a day since then.

"They bounced back, big-time, and I told them yesterday, 'Hey, we're not out of it. Let's go give them everything we've got. I like our shot, one time, against anybody. We hit a wall, Game 2s give us a wall. That's what happened to us today, too. We hit a wall in about the third inning, second game. That heat gets to them. They're 5 and 6, so that's a lot."

They overcame it, one more time.

Their next opportunity to do so will be at Colleton County's ACE Basin Sports Complex, where they'll take part in the East Regional World Series opening ceremony July 19 before beginning pool play the next day.

They'll do so no longer only as the Valley's team, or as Aiken County's team - but as South Carolina's team.

"They've been working hard all summer. This has been our whole summer," Ross Sullivan said. "Actually, if we go deep in the World Series, with it being year-round school, Aiken County starts back even before we - hopefully we're still playing, and they're back in school."

The kids probably won't mind missing a few days in the classroom if it means an extra pep talk or two on the baseball diamond.

After all, they seem to respond well to them.