“It’s supposed to be hard! If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great!”
— Jimmy Dugan

In 1992, a movie starring Tom Hanks as manager Jimmy Dugan called “A League of Their Own” came out. Hanks played the manager of an all girls professional baseball team set in the early 1940s. The quote is about the game of baseball. We should probably now change that sport to softball.

On Wednesday night, the young ladies from Wheelersburg did something very hard. And, it was GREAT!

They won the 2018 Little League Softball World Series Championship over Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, 3-0.

Fastpitch softball is an amazing game. It teaches many life lessons. It teaches you to trust.

Trust in each other, in coaches and in your parents.

It teaches you to be determined. Determination is the drive that makes you want to exceed expectations, to make yourself and your teammates better.

Finally, it teaches you discipline. Discipline to follow the game plan, to never back down in the face of adversity. To never being out of the game.

Trust, determination and discipline can take you a long way in life — like Alpenrose Stadium,  in Portland, Oregon.

As you congratulate the coaches, parents, and young ladies from the “The Burg” over the next few weeks, please also thank them for showing us the base path to how act and be a champion.

A League of Their Own, indeed.