Chicago 365 Playoff Central: When Storylines Collide

     Jackie Robinson West came to Williamsport as the first all-black team to play in the Series in 31 years.  Couple that with the violence that strikes far too often in the area of the team's Washington Heights home park, and JRW's run is the stuff that dreams are made of makes for great news stories(nice try, Bogart).  Incidentally, JRW isn't the only team there producing good copy. Once you get past West's run, the biggest story coming out of Williamsport has got to be that of Mo'ne Davis, the female phenom pitcher for Philadelphia's Taney Youth Baseball.

I think I see a hand there in the back of the room.  Yes Hamilton Porter, you had something to say?

     Why yes Hambino, Mo'ne Davis does play ball like a girl.  A girl who throws at an equivalent speed of 93 miles an hour on a full size diamond.  A girl whose pitching angle never varies by more than 3 degrees. A girl who can deliver a pitch at 80% the velocity of the average Major League pitcher. A girl who on Monday will become the first Little Leaguer to be featured on the cover of Spprts Illustrated.  Suffice it to say that Davis' pitching was attracting many fans, followers, and newsmen to her team's exploits in Williamsport.  And then all of a sudden, thanks to West's victory over Texas and Taney's loss to Vegas, these two compelling stories collided in the United States Semifinal.

     JRW started off the action by pouring on 4 runs in the first inning, before Taney answered back with 2 in their half.  West immediately took 2 more runs in the 2nd to make it 6-2.  Taney would score 3 more runs to pull within one, but Cameron Bufford recorded the save to add to his pivotal role in West's postseason run.  Along with some hits by Josh Houston, all of JRW once again pitched in to help our guys go the distance and punch a ticket to the United States Championship(hmm, maybe putting Mo'ne Davis on the cover of Sports Illustrated wasn't the best idea).  Once there, they will face a familiar opponent: Mountain Ridge of Las Vegas.  Representing the only blemish on JRW's record(a 13-2 drubbing that still managed to outpace Chi-town's pro clubs), Vegas presents a unique challenge.  Regardless, West will be ready to face it.  First pitch is at 2:30 PM local time on Saturday.  All the luck to our boys from the Heights.


     On a totally unrelated note, if The Sandlot clip above left you wanting for more, here's a clip of the same actor who played the little kid at a celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the movie.  Quite interesting if you ask me.