Indiana Team That Lost To JRW Raising Money To Go To 2015 Little League World Series
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Saying they feel cheated out of their chance to play in the Little League World Series last summer, the team that lost the Great Lakes regional championship to Jackie Robinson West is raising money to go to next year's tournament, even if it's just to watch.
The Little League team from New Albany, Indiana, was awarded the Great Lakes championship after Jackie Robinson West was stripped of the title last month, because the South Side team used ineligible players during tournament play.
New Albany coach Kevin Ricketts said the New Albany team is raising money on the Go Fund Me crowdsourcing website to help get the players to the next Little League World Series, even if it would be just to soak up the ambiance.
"The hardest part about it is just knowing now that, in a way, it was kind of stolen from you," he said. "That's the way the kids kind of feel. They feel like they were the best legal team in the regionals."
Ricketts said, now that the New Albany team has the regional title, but didn't get to play in the Little League World Series, the boys at least want to visit Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the tournament is played.
"I'd like to see the kids get a chance to be recognized on the field at Williamsport. I'd like to see the kids get everything that they would have gotten had they gone. If they got free bats, if they got sunglasses, whatever swag they got," he said.
So far he's raised more than $1,700 for the trip. He's hoping to raise $15,000.
