SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — It’s not an ice-cream cone. It’s not an Italian rainbow cookie. It’s the baseball bat being used at the Little League World Series.
Easton’s 2026 Hype Fire USA Bat with the neon green grip and the pink-and-neon yellow barrel is hard to miss at the plate. And the players love them.
“I left it up to them which bats they wanted to use, most of them went with the bat they gave us,” Pennsylvania manager Michael Shaw said. “You know, a great color for 12-year-old kids — sour gummy worms.”
When Little League teams arrive in Williamsport, they get bright and colorful uniforms and hats at the Grove, the barracks where they live during the tournament. When they go to the batting cages for the first time, the rest of their gear is waiting for them. Bats, gloves, helmets, catching gear, you name it, the players are getting it.
“They were kids in a candy store, and as a coach, I got goose bumps walking in there and I’m 38 years old, so I can only imagine what the 12-year-olds are thinking about while walking through that door, seeing all the gear they got,” said South Dakota’s manager, Ryan Vavruska. “We’re very fortunate to get here and to be blessed with all that gear.”
Easton has partnered with Little League for more than 40 years and in 2023 the partnership was extended through 2028. Rawlings merged with Easton in 2021 and is the official glove used in the tournament.
“When they opened the roller door down to the batting cages, the stampede started,” Australia manager Keith Land said. “These kids are going to be excited to go home and go, ‘Look what I’ve got and look what you haven’t got.’ They’ll rub it in, don’t worry about that.”
After aluminum bats were turning games into home run derbies, Little League in 2018 changed its bat rules to comply with the USABat Standard, which switched the material used to make the bats, so they now perform more like wooden bats. These bats, however, are lighter and easier to swing for 12-year-old players.
The standard was created to ensure the “long-term integrity of the game,” according to USA Baseball. There are now fewer home runs each year at the LLWS, even if the ball sounds good off the bat.
But the players aren’t talking about the home runs they may or not hit — they just love having the bat in their hands. Most of them couldn’t believe what they were getting.
“It was pretty hype,” South Dakota’s Camden Tycz said. “When we saw the bat table it was just astonishing.”
Preston Ware’s mouth dropped when his team from South Carolina got to the batting cages. He initially thought his whole team would get only one bat to share.
“Coach Dave (Bogan) tried to trick me and said, ‘Yes,’” Preston said.
But quick to jump in was Joe Giulietti, who hit a grand slam in South Carolina’s first game. “Preston,” he said, “this isn’t like the 1960s. When Coach Dave grew up, they had one bat size.”
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Amanda Vogt is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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