Local Little League team makes history — and 'Green Machine’ isn’t finished
North Arlington Little League’s “Green Machine” has won a state championship and is looking to take on the world.
The under-13 50/70 intermediate team will compete in the Southwest Region tournament Sunday, July 19, through July 24 in Sugar Land. The winner advances to the Little League World Series on Aug. 2-9 in Livermore, California.
North Arlington advanced to the regional tournament for the first time by winning the Texas West state tournament July 11 in Abilene.
North Arlington Little League president Lex Landers calls the team “The Green Machine.”
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“Uniforms are primary kelly green. When I first started thinking, it was catchy and fun,” Landers said. “But then when I think about who these young men are, a machine doesn’t take credit, but everyone does their part. When a lot of people think machine, they think perfection. What the Green Machine really means is moving together, having purpose. I hope they don’t think just baseball, but the team put each other ahead of themselves.”
The 50/70 intermediate division is the next level up from the traditional Little League World Series that is played each year in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for players 12 and under. The 50/70 is a transitional league for players 13 and under, with the distance between the pitching rubber and home plate moving up to 50 feet and the basepaths moving up to 70 feet. The traditional Little League distances are 46 and 60 feet, respectively.
Landers, who has been with NALL for 15 years, said the intermediate team has received incredible support, with the community rallying around the squad. He said many families who don’t even have kids on the team drove out for the state tournament in Abilene.
The team is coached by Homero Llanas, who started coaching at North Arlington 10 years ago when his son started playing T-ball.
Llanas played high school baseball, then enlisted in the armed forces after graduating in 2001 and was deployed after the 9-11 attacks. When he returned, he said he got into the education system because he wanted to coach baseball.
Llanas said the team fell just short of the district championship last year, and that has helped fuel its run this year.
A big part of Llanas’ coaching technique has to do with the team motto: “Have fun, respect the game.”
“Have fun came from that’s why kids start playing the game when they are little,” he said. “That’s when they are fearless. That’s when they do their best. Respect the game came because I don’t want to just coach the kids in the game I love but to respect life in general, listen to your parents and teachers. It’s not just baseball, it’s life in general.
“When you respect the game, the game will take care of you”
Landers and Llanas said they want the players to remember not their success, but rather how the community came together and who the young men are.
“Everybody is going to remember the state championship,” Llanas said. “Everybody is going to remember how the kids play, but I want them to remember that this is a good group of young men who play with their heart and respect the game and respect their opponents and play the game the right way. I’m going to be super proud of the team and that I got a front row seat to view it all.”
The team will have a send-off Saturday at J.W. Dunlop Park in Arlington. The team will arrive at 11:30 a.m. and depart at 12 p.m.
The members of the team are (in numerical order):
— No. 2 Caleb Sosa
— No. 6 Nicolas Banda
— No. 8 Caleb Berg
— No. 12 Samuel Butler
— No. 15 Cooper Myers
— No. 16 Luke Treadway
— No. 21 Christian Rodriguez
— No. 23 David Llanas
— No. 24 Josiah Davis
— No. 28 Noah Bradley
— No. 77 Evan Nguyen
— No. 99 Hunter Sanger
