Youth Sports Report:

One Up, One Down For Palma Ceia

Posted Aug 7, 2008 by Nick Murray

Updated Aug 7, 2008 at 02:22 PM

The day after his Palma Ceia Little League Junior softball team advanced to the World Series, manager Kevin Franklin still can’t believe it.

“This morning I woke up, and it was surreal,” Franklin said. Palma Ceia defeated Wilkes County (N.C.) Little League 8-3 on Wednesday night to advance to theWorld Series, which begins in Kirkland, Wash. on Sunday.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” Franklin added. “This morning was really when it sunk in that we’re going to the World Series.”

The team, which also includes players from Interbay and Tampa Bay Little Leagues, will head out from Fort Myers on Saturday, which doesn’t leave Franklin much time to get everything prepared for the trip. The team is holding a celebration on Thursday night at 6 p.m. at the Beef O’ Brady’s at south McDill and Bay To Bay.

“I am so busy with trying to get multiple things co-cordinated right now,” Franklin said. “There’s just so many things we have to get done over the next 24 hours before we head back down to Fort Myers to fly out on Saturday morning. We’ve got a big celebration tonight, that’ll be great for the girls to have everyone congratulate them for their efforts.”

Palma Ceia Junior baseball manager Scott Linabury would like to be having to deal with some of the things Franklin is going through now. Unfortunately for Linabury and his team, they fell short in the Southern Region final, losing 3-1 to Atlee (Va.) Little League in Wednesday’s final.

Despite falling one game short of the World Series, Linabury said he was proud of the way his team not only played through the tournament, but also how they took being eliminated.

“When we first started this in the middle of July, there were over 600 teams is what they told us playing in the Southern Region,” Linabury said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t our day, but out of 600 teams that were vying for the spot we’re in, we were in the top two and one game away from the big show. Unfortunately you have to have a winner and have to have a loser.

“I was very, very proud of the guys. You know the old saying ‘no crying in baseball’? There was no crying, they looked at it, these guys are young adults and they sucked it up. They knew they didn’t get the job done.”

Palma Ceia Junior softball opens against Turtle Club Little League from Windsor, Ontario at 5:30 EST on Sunday. Franklin said that he hopes the team enjoys the experience after having fallen short at regionals last year, but still realizes that there is a title that can be won at the end of it.

“This is a one-time experience right here that’s out in front of them,”  Franklin said. “I want them to go and fully enjoy the experience and have something they’ll remember for life. But I also told them we’re going there to win a championship, and they know that I truly believe and they believe that they will do it.”