The Bel Air Braves baseball team is filled with the best 12-year olds from its small region in Harford County.
The team it scrimmaged on Monday night at the Ripken Baseball Academy in Aberdeen picked from a slightly larger talent pool: the continent of Australia.
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Bel Air is the host team at the Ninth Annual Cal Ripken World Series, which begins with tonight’s opening ceremony and concludes with the championship game on Aug. 16. The Braves open play on Saturday afternoon at 12:30, against a team from Jupiter, Fla., the Southeast champion.
“It’s going to be incredible,” shortstop Grayson Boone said. “We’re going to play all these teams we’ve never seen or heard of, and if they made it here, we know they’re good.”
The Braves had a much easier path to the World Series, as it had to win just one three-game series. The Braves defeated last year’s host team Emmorton, 4-3, in the deciding game on July 14. But the rest of the 15 teams had to win multiple region tournaments to advance to the World Series, which serves as the championship of the Babe Ruth League — not to be confused with the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
“We’re really just glad to be there,” said Braves coach Lee Boone, Grayson’s father. “We’re going to give our best shot to go out and have a good showing. If we play well, we might be able to get a few wins against some really good competition.”
Last year, Emmorton advanced further than any Harford County team in tournament history, falling a win short of advancing to the tournament’s elimination rounds.
And Bel Air’s tournament tune-up against Australia, organized by a team member’s parent who works for Ripken Baseball, was good preparation for what the team will see the next nine days. The Braves stayed close for three innings before the Aussies pulled away for a lopsided victory.
“It showed the kids the game [the Australians] play, although they talk a little funny, is much like the game we play in Harford County,” Lee Boone said. “It was a very neat experience.”
And Grayson appreciated the rare opportunity. After the scrimmage, the teams went out for dinner together, and Grayson said the kids from Australia were “funny” and “fun to hang out with”.
“It’s cool talking to Australian people because basically, you don’t get to do it that much,” Grayson said. “They’re from all the way across the world.”