A winning but expensive summer: Keystone teams traveling all over Pennsylvania

LOCK HAVEN, PA – Over the last 15 years or so Keystone Little League has established itself on the field of play as one of the premier Little League programs in Pennsylvania.

And 2022 is no exception; in fact, this year is one of the best ever for Keystone with four different age levels still in the hunt for state championships and beyond. And while the games are fun and community moral support is great, with the postseason come expenses for the team and their families as they travel across the Keystone state.

As a for-instance, therecord-online checked in with Cole Hanley, manager of the Keystone 11 team which has already won district and sectional titles and will begin the quest for a state crown later this week in Athens, two hours away.

Hanley and several of his players were positioned at Lock Haven’s Bellefonte Avenue – Commerce Street intersection Wednesday morning and will be there until 2 p.m. on Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday. The players, cannisters in hand, are collecting donations from passing motorists to held defray the cost of the trip to the state tourney.

The team earlier this week claimed the sectional crown, that tourney held at Athens. And back will go the 11-year-olds on Friday for an evening opening ceremony and a first game Saturday at 8 p.m. against DuBois. That state tourney will run through Wednesday of next week.

Hanley said the fundraising effort will go towards the team’s hotel stay and, if enough funds are raised, towards getting team members commemorative t-shirts and other state tourney gear.

He said players will travel with their families to Athens, some of them car-pooling, some parents driving back and forth, with the players remaining in Athens, some parents staying in Athens. Hanley said costs associated with the state tourney expenses are the responsibility of their league, in this case Keystone.

It’s a process to which Keystone All-Stars and their families have become accustomed over the years, the boys of summer on ballfields all across the state and sometimes beyond.

Other Keystone teams and their July journeys:

Keystone 10s: at their age group sectional tourney in Berwick through Friday…

Kestone 12s: at their age group sectional tourney in Pottsville through Saturday…

Keystone Juniors: at their age group state tourney to be held in DuBois July 25 – 30.

Rich Lyons is the President of the Keystone League (in addition to serving as District 12 Administrator). He passed along this information for those who may want to help: “Checks payable to Keystone LL Po box 324 MH Pa. Since we have 4 district teams and multiple tournament teams still playing, write what team they’re donating to in the memo and / or if they want it used for something specific, like lodging, etc.”