Well Wishers Stand by Commerce Avenue at 5 A.M. Sendoff for the Front Royal Little League Boys’ Baseball Team

“It matters,” said Sergeant Clingerman of the Front Royal Police Department, reflecting on the importance of baseball to Front Royal and the appropriateness of the police escort that would shortly conduct the Front Royal Little League boys’ baseball team down Commerce Avenue at 5 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, July 29. The team of eleven and twelve-year-olds recently achieved victory in the state championship, something that Front Royal has not tasted since 1961.

Supported by cheering fans, the Front Royal Little League baseball team of eleven and twelve-year-old boys, bound for a regional competition in Georgia after their state championship win, progresses down Commerce Avenue at 5 a.m. with a police escort on Tuesday, July 29. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh

In a tsunami of support, key community organizations like the Hike Kidz Foundation, Play Favorites, Brickhouse Bar and Grill, and the Moose Lodge came together to raise the money necessary to cover the team’s expenses as they travel to Warner Robins, Georgia, for the regional tournament in which they will compete after their state win. Whether speaking to representatives of Play Favorites or Brick House or the proud parents themselves, there is a strong sense that as each young man steps up to the diamond, the town of Front Royal stands behind him.

Officer Robinson, a member of the Front Royal Police Department, escorting the players, stands beside an FRPD vehicle at the caravan’s starting point.

“We’re a small little town, right?” Mayor Lori Cockrell said, reflecting on what it means for our little league to represent the state, as players loaded into the bus. “And that’s pretty amazing! I also think as a baseball mom myself that these boys are creating memories that are going to last their entire lives … they’re going to be talking about this for years to come.” She spoke of her interactions with men who competed in the sixties and how those memories are still fresh for them. Known for being the canoe capital of Virginia, Front Royal can also claim an identity as being a baseball town.

Mayor Lori Cockrell was part of an enthusiastic fan base on the side of Commerce Avenue that wished the players well in the early morning. Here she holds one of the signs that she crafted the night before.

Having set their alarm clocks early, a sizable crowd collected at the volunteer fire department on Commerce Avenue as 5 a.m. approached, prepared to cheer, wave, and hold up signs with messages like “you got this” as the bus conveying the little league team in the police escort would pass by. When the caravan approached, everyone forgot the hour as pure energy seized the people, something as timeless as the sport of baseball lifting spirits and joining the community together in a common passion. The place to gather at 7 p.m. on Thursday night is Brick House on Chester Street, where the game will be streaming live.

(L) Damian Wright stands with his former coach, Roger Smelser (R), who is currently a Front Royal Little League Representative for the Parks and Recreation Commission.

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