Washington City Little League wins state, heads to Oregon with World Series dreams

Washington — Thirteen local Little League baseball players and their families will go to Oregon in August with dreams of the World Series in their heads.

Washington Utah’s Little League baseball team at practice, Washington, Utah, July 19, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The Washington Utah U14 Little League team won the state championship and will go to Bend, Oregon, Aug. 4 for regionals, the next step in a journey that could potentially end at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the Little League World Series.

“They’re all special,” coach Wayne Evans said about the team after wrapping up a practice at the Washington City baseball field Tuesday night.

The all-star team is made up of 13- and 14-year-olds from around the Washington City area. Most of them will end up playing in high school at Pine View, Crimson Cliffs or Desert Hills.

“We’ve kind of deemed them the Covid Era Kids, because when they were 12U playing for the majors going to San Bernardino that was the Covid year, so we didn’t have that and it was kind of sad for them not to have that opportunity,” Evans said.

“They have that opportunity now, they’ve really wanted it, and they’re proving it by the way they’ve been playing,” he added. “These kids are so excited to come out and play.”

Most of the kids have played together for years and they all worked hard to get to this point.

“They’re excited to represent the whole state of Utah and specifically this area,” Evans said. “We want to win, is what it comes down to. We want to win, the kids want to win and they’ve played so far like they want to win. I very much believe they’ll do so when we get up to Oregon.”

Players on the team include: Ammon Johansson, Brooks Clark, Wyatt Mitchell, Ezra Llewellyn, Blake Mawhinney, Tristan Sylvester, Rayce Bennett, Genevieve Evans, Jace Dutson, Jeric Wilson, Josh Gray, Jaxton Probst and Helaman Manutai.

Assistant coaches David Gray and Sean Mawhinney help Evans instruct the team.

“A lot of these kids have been playing for a long time. They’re good individually,” Evans said. “The hardest thing in such a short time is jelling as a team. They’re getting there. But I think they’ll be able to compete. They did great in the state tournament.”

The state tournament in Cedar City was played July 5-9.

Washington beat Cedar American 9-2 in its first game, then beat Enterprise 14-5 on the second day at state. They concluded with two wins against Cedar National, 11-3 and 15-2.

Washington Utah U14 League Little league baseball after winning state, Cedar City, Utah, July 9, 2022 | Photo by Wayne Evans, St. George News

“They really came together at state. They beat everybody pretty well, pretty handily,” Evans said. “The kids came out and really wanted to win.”

The families of the players are all-in for the whole Little League experience, too.

Marianne Mitchell, mother of Little Leaguer Wyatt Mitchell, said she’s lost count of how many practices and games she’s watched as she’s driven her son around this summer.

“We’re excited to go to Oregon and watch some baseball. We love it,” said Mitchell, adding that she’ll be taking the whole family of six along with her sister to cheer on the team from Washington.

The experience will be extra special for Genevieve Evans, the coach’s daughter and a key member of the Washington roster as a pitcher, catcher and shortstop. She also plans to try out for the boys’ baseball team at Pine View next year.

According to the Little League website, historically 20 girls have played in the Little League World Series.

Most memorable, perhaps, was Mo’ne Davis, a pitcher from Philadelphia who in 2014 made headlines around the world after she threw 14 strikeouts and only allowed three runs in over eight innings pitched at the World Series.

But it is still pretty rare in Little League to have a female player who’s a regular contributor on a usually all-boys team in an all-boys league.

“I had two older brothers and I just played with them,” Genevieve said. “I loved it. So I just keep going and I can’t really switch right now. It’s just my life.”

The right-hander swings a pretty good bat, too, calling herself “more of a contact hitter than a power hitter.”

Chemistry is a vital component to their success as a team, she added.

“We’re pretty united. It’s fun. We just have a lot of fun together and we can’t really get mad at each other,” Genevieve said. “We’re like a family.”

The team knows that the competition level in Bend is going to get a lot tougher.

“It’s fun to play people from other places,” Genevieve said. “It’s a great way to get better. You just got to learn from others.”

Going to regionals is not cheap for any team and Evans said that a GoFundMe challenge has been set up here.

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