A photograph is circulating at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania — a telling image of three Boerne players, Cooper Hastings, Jett Matthews and Gray Collins, with wide grins and bright eyes after another big win.
What’s striking about the photo is not the composition or color but the age of the players. The boys are 5 years old. Two have missing baby teeth. In the summer of 2017, they were Boerne Little League T-ball champs.
On Saturday, they hope to become U.S. Little League champions.
No San Antonio-area team has ever claimed the title or advanced to Sunday’s World Series championship game.
On Saturday, Hastings, Matthews, Collins and their nine Boerne teammates swing for history at 2:30 p.m. They face Florida, a team they defeated, 4-1, earlier in the week.
Recognized in the tournament as Texas, the Boerne All-Stars are on a 3-0 run at the LLWS and 17-0 in postseason play. After Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over Nevada, Boerne ace Julian Hurst told ESPN, “We’re looking to go 19-0 to end the summer.”
The team’s core has played together for years, in some cases since kindergarten.
Hurst, Gage Steubing, Ben Burkhart and Dylan Burke excelled on various Little League teams in elementary school. Hastings, Matthews and Collins won championships before they started first grade.
“Out of the 12 kids, I’d say seven or eight have played together since they were 4 or 5,” said Rusty Hastings, Cooper’s father. “All the parents are pulling up old photos. They were all tykes back in the day. Now they’ve grown up to be pretty good baseball players.”
How good? The Boerne All-Stars are the only undefeated team in the U.S. bracket. In three games, the boys have outscored opponents 18-3 and committed one error. A different player seems to star in each game. Kole Newson hit a grand slam in a 9-0 victory over Pennsylvania. Hurst struck out 10 and allowed three hits in the victory over Florida. Cooper Hastings drove in two runs and, in relief, threw four scoreless innings of one-hit ball in a 5-2 victory over Nevada.
“They just keep winning,” said Dru Steubing, Gage’s father, “and we just keep going to the next hotel room.”
Players and parents understand the challenge of history. Only one team from Texas has won the LLWS — Houston in 1966. The last San Antonio-area team to reach the U.S. championship game was McAllister Park in 2009.
“Boerne,” Rusty Hastings observed, “has never made it out of Texas.”
The All-Stars have never seen anything like Williamsport. The city had them ride in a parade. A state representative invited them to his home for dinner. The boys are bunking in a dormitory and pass the time playing video games and wiffleball. They had a meet-and-greet with the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers. After games, little kids besiege the All-Stars for autographs.
“It’s kind of unreal,” said Jessica Steubing, Gage’s mother. “But it’s also extremely exciting.”
The LLWS is big business in Williamsport, generating an estimated $40 million for the local economy annually. Fans pour into Lamade Stadium and fill the steep, grassy incline behind the outfield wall. Parents estimate a crowd that equaled half the population of Boerne (roughly 20,000) attended Wednesday’s game. The expected attendance for the U.S. championship is between 30,000 and 40,000.
“The town is built around this tournament,” Dru Steubing said. “You see the fire hydrants and they’re all painted in regional team colors. This is their mark.”
The LLWS has marked Boerne and raised the community’s profile.
ESPN conducts interviews with parents during games, shows player features and touts athletic skill. To show Gage’s speed, a camera followed him running from first base to home plate with a broadcaster asking if he could complete the trip in less than 10 seconds. A timer showed he did. “He’s always been fast,” Dru Steubing said.
Boerne is abuzz. Family and friends are flying in for Saturday’s championship. At least one Boerne school administrator is coming. People are asking for tickets. Watch parties are springing up all over town. One advertises, “$5 Margs & Nachos!”
“Back home, the support has been unbelievable,” Dru Steubing said. “People are taking videos of the games and sharing them. The schools are doing watch parties.”
ESPN. Social media. Community gatherings. “The kids feel like they’re famous,” Rusty said.
One person unable to attend is Kadence Hastings, Cooper’s sister. She has spinal muscular atrophy, a rare neuromuscular disorder that results in muscle wasting. The siblings are close: Cooper has said that if he won the lottery, he’d donate all his winnings to research for a cure.
“It’s a very progressive disease that gets worse over time,” Rusty Hastings said. “She can still walk but (down the road) she might not be able to. She’s doing great, though. She makes all As and is living a really good life. School starts for her on Friday, so she cannot come up here. She’s at home watching.”
Cooper and his teammates are missing school. To avoid excessive absences, they had to unenroll before the LLWS and will re-enroll when they return home. Roughly half the team attends Voss Middle School, the other half goes to Boerne Middle School South.
In a few years, they’ll all be playing for Boerne Champion High School. The coaches can hardly wait.
What began in T-ball and grade school has reached a world stage. Old photos stir nostalgia. ESPN cameras spark wonder. “You can dream,” Dru Steubing said. “But I can’t believe this has come true.”
