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Rally put Manteno in sectional tournament  Share
For the second year in a row, Manteno won the District 18 11-12 age group Little League championship, qualifying them for the Section 5 Tournament. In a 5-4 win, the team beat out Bradley-Bourbonnais American on July 14. ''It is a tremendous feeling,'' Team manager John Robbins said. ''It's wonderful for these kids in Little League to bring home a district championship. It's great for the program and community.'' Robbins, who coached this same team to a district victory last year in the 10-11 year-old age group, said it was a come-from-behind win. ''We started out slow and got behind early,'' he said. ''But the kids kept us in a position to win the game ... We held them in the bottom of the sixth to win the game.''
Robbins said this was the first time in the six-game tournament they had been behind, and he wasn't sure how they would handle the situation. ''You have to remain confident, even though you worry a little bit inside, but you can't let the kids know that you're worried,'' Robbins said. ''Hopefully, the kids will respond, and they did. It seemed like as it got closer and closer to the end of the game, the more and more they were able to step up and make the big play and make the big hit, and it took us all the way to the end of the game to do that.'' But there was nothing to worry about. ''The kids came through at the right time, and it was an awesome thing to watch,'' said Tracy Campe, mother of team member Nick Campe. ''It was a gut-wretching thing for me to watch because my son was the pitcher, and he gave up two home runs, but they pulled it out.'' Robbins began coaching this team two years ago, in the 9-10 year-old division. In 2007, the team took second place in the District 18 tournament. Last year, they won the 10-11 year-old division, but took third place in the sectional championship. ''There's a core group of kids that I've been coaching together since they were 9-years-old,'' Robbins said. While there have been changes and additions to the team, Robbins said the majority of the team has been together for a few years. ''Most of them I have coached outside of Little League, and they play travel baseball together to get more games in and to know each others strengths and weaknesses and to become a team,'' Robbins said. The team moved on to the Section 5 tournament, which was held July 18-22. There were four teams in the double-elimination tournament. Manteno played Peru on July 18 and lost 3-4. The team also lost their second game against Freeport, 3-9, on July 19, which knocked them out of the competition. ''They had a great season though,'' Campe said. ''They're district champions and that will always be. They just didn't get to be sectional champions.'' Both the district and sectional tournaments were held at Heritage Park in Manteno. ''It's nice to play in front of your home crowd,'' Robbins said. ''It's a little added pressure, but it's actually nice when you win.'' Katie Carr is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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