WSLL beat Loveland 3-0 on Thursday to advance to the winners bracket final 6 p.m. Saturday against Anderson. The one-game championship is Monday.
“We are proud of our West Side Little League,” said Tim Nichting, who is managing the WSLL 12-year-old division team. “We’ve worked hard at everything. We run a nice league in the season, we have a lot of good managers and I think that all goes into play in helping West Side Little League be successful.”
Nichting said the 14 players on the team are aware of the organization’s success at this level and the idea they “are supposed to win,” but probably don’t realize how long the district championship streak is.
The district championship could feel a little more pressure-packed this year as District 9 elected to make it a one-game final. In the past, the loser’s bracket champion would have to beat the winner’s bracket champion twice to claim the title. The rest of the tournament is a two-and-out format.
“That bugs you a little,” Nichting said. “Anything can happen in one game, so that puts more pressure on the final. You can have a bad game here or there, I just don’t think a team would be equipped to beat West Side Little League twice. They do that at the regional level because they don’t want a doubleheader on TV, but when you’re playing local baseball, I don’t know why there is any rush.”
It doesn’t matter so much at the regional stage because the two finalists make the World Series anyway.
Last year, WSLL went to the World Series after falling to the loser’s bracket in the Great Lakes Regional. West Side won the loser’s bracket final and then lost to Michigan’s Taylor North Little League in the regional final. The teams met again in the World Series championship game after winning their respective divisions, but Taylor North came out on top 5-2.
“It was an amazing feat what they did last year and to expect this team to do that, that would be tough expectations, but we want to compete,” Nichting said. “I don’t know that they really look at it. They are kids, so it’s just, ‘We’re going to go out and win tonight.’”
Nichting had been a part of the first four West Side Little League World Series trips, but only watched last year’s as a fan, after deciding to coach the 11-year-old team that his grandson was on instead of helping current assistant Kenny Coomer like usual, as they normally take turns managing and coaching alongside one another. Nichting and his dad, Ray Nichting, coached together during the 1991 and 1993 appearances with Ray as the manager.
Current assistant Chris Hilton also played on that 1991 team.
Nichting managed the 2007 team that his son, T.J., played on, and they experienced a World Series together that year, and Nichting helped Coomer coach the 2010 team that went as well. Ray Nichting passed away this past year, at the age of 89, so there’s a little bit of a ‘do it for Ray’ mentality, and it’s also special for Nichting to have his grandson, Timmy Saurber, on the team this year.
Overall, the team seems pretty talented, as usual, Nichting said. Pitcher and first baseman/third baseman Maddox Jones is back from last year’s team but everyone else is new. The 11-year-old team last year won the state tournament.
“We haven’t played a lot of games with this team this year because we only played two practice games, but we’ve got some nice pitching,” Nichting said. “We’re somewhat well-rounded as a team as opposed to having one superstar stud standing out. We have a couple good pitchers, couple good hitters so we’re hoping it comes together.”
West Side Little League (12′s) All Stars
Sammy Platt, Nathaniel Lineback, Timmy Saurber, Aiden Justice, Blake Sams, Brady Karwisch, Carter Jackson, CJ Froehlich, Cassius Brown, Maddox Jones, Jaxson Bohlen, Asher Roy, Cole Vowell, Brody Jeffries (out with broken leg). Manager: Tim Nichting. Coaches: Kenny Coomer, Chris Hilton.
About the Author