Huntley Senators Minor Division only the second team in Huntley history to play at the LLWS State Championship Tournament

HUNTLEY – Huntley Little League head coach Scott Crowe announced via a July 26 press release, that Huntley Little League’s tournament team, the Huntley Senators, would be representing the Minor Division of players comprised of kids ages 8 through 10 at the Little League World Series (LLWS).

Crowe explained to My Huntley News that the Minor Division can only compete at the state level versus being able to play against international teams in the LLWS, an event that is televised. The international games are reserved for kids ages 10 to 12 that are in the division above the Minors.

However, going to state was still no easy feat for the young athletes, seeing as the Huntley Senators are only the second team from Huntley to come this far in terms of tournaments since 2019, according to Huntley Little League president Bill Meyer.

“I happen to know the coach that was there two years ago. So, I’ve spoken with him a few times [about] just tips, tricks, advice and I also learned that [his team] never won. So, they got there, they lost two games and they were out. So, Saturday (July 31) made us the first team ever from Huntley to win a game in state,” Crowe said speaking of the Huntley Senator’s 6-4 score victory against the Little League team from Champaign East.

Unfortunatly, the Huntley Senators did lose their Aug. 1 game to the Hinsdale Little League team with a score of 7-17, though were able to remain in the tournament due to it being a double elimination round.

Crowe explained that in order to keep team spirits high during a loss, coaches employ a handful of skillful tactics.

“As coaches, we have a few tricks up our sleeve. You know, first we have our team’s mantra is H.E.A.R.T, which stands for Hustle, Effort, Attitude, Respect and Team. During the game we will call out ‘HEART’ really loud. They’ll say ‘We got it!’ It’s sort of our team mantra between the kids, the parents. I mean it’s sort of a rally cry if you will,” Crowe said.

He continued, “There’s a little inside joke among the team about Skittles. So, as coaches when times get tough, we bring a big bag of Skittles and we encourage them to get hits. We reward them with Skittles if they get [hits]. I think sometimes at this level, emotions get the best of the kids and so to offer something like Skittles or something like that, it’s not so much of ‘Oh, you did well, here’s a reward,’ it’s more about getting their mind off of the game and just having fun as kids.”

On Aug. 2, the Huntley Senators played off against the Little League team from Peru, Illinois.

Crowe was excited at the prospect of a rematch against the Peru team as the Huntley Senators had lost to them in a prior tournament game.

The Huntley Senators won against the Peru team with a score of 12-7, advancing to be one of the final four teams in state.

Despite giving it their all, the Huntley Senators lost their Aug. 3 game to the Clear Ridge team, the Little League District from the Chicago-Midway area.

Regardless if the team didn’t win the LLWS state tournament, Crowe ensured that the kids had fun.

Seeing as the Huntley Senators are not a travel baseball team, this tournament was their first opportunity to get a feel into getting to stay at a hotel as a team and even enjoying a pizza party the night after their first game.

“It’s a nice little intermediate step between house league baseball, truly recreational, instructional type nature, and it’s sort of a bridge to travel. Sometimes called part-time travel, because in addition to the Little League games, they do also compete against other all-star teams,” Crowe said.

“Fridays and Saturdays we don’t have in-house games so those are days that we compete against you know, the Cary All-Stars. There’s Crystal Lake. Some of those other communities that are around us that have similar type teams. It’s just another opportunity to take kids who might be interested in that next level of travel baseball and kind of finding an intermediate step to help them grow further.”

The Huntley Senators are considered an all-star team—a group of top performing players in the league—which Crowe states typically involves tryouts from kids already on a Huntley Little League team. Crowe suggests parents interested in the Huntley Senators, should first get their child involved with the Huntley Little League.

“I give credit to all of our coaches and our parents. I think we set reasonable expectations for them. Knowing that even though a priority here is to win, it’s a big tournament [and] it’s important, you know, we could sit kids on the bench the whole time, but our coaching staff doesn’t believe in that and we will still play all our players. I mean we see other teams that they have players that really never get to play on the field. I think that’s unfortunate,” Crowe said.

To learn more about the Huntley Little League, visit www.huntleylittleleague.com.