Georgia team comes home with Little League title

<p>Hundreds of family members, friends and fans greeted the Warner Robins team of All-Stars Monday night as it returned home from winning the Little League World Series _ the second straight title for a Georgia squad and the third in a row for the United States.</p><p>The team arrived on a bus at the Flint Sports Complex, their home fields, shortly before 10 p.m. to a deafening roar of cheers and chants of "U.S.A."</p><p>Nine shirtless men _ each with a letter on their chest spelling "South East" _ led the crowd in a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."</p><p>A team from Columbus won the crown last year, and Ewa Beach, Hawaii, won in 2005.</p><p>Trent Carriker, the father of the player who hit a walk-off home run to win the championship on Sunday, was one of several of the players' parents who waited at the stadium for the bus to arrive Monday night.</p><p>"He's a very humble kid," he said about his son, Dalton.</p><p>He said Dalton had to turn down an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno because flying out west would cause him to miss more school.</p><p>The player is scheduled to appear on the "Late Show with David Letterman" Tuesday night. He is to fly out to New York Tuesday morning to tape the show, and will be back in the classroom on Wednesday.</p><p>A parade honoring the team is planned for Saturday at 10 a.m. starting at the Houston Mall and to the Civic Center, where a ceremony will be held honoring the coaches and the team.</p><p>The 2007 Little League champions returned triumphantly to Georgia with their arrival earlier at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where parents and other family members filled the airport atrium holding balloons in the gold and red team colors.</p><p>The 12-player team, wearing orange championship T-shirts and their team hats, rode a bus about 80 miles south of the airport to their hometown.</p><p>They beat a squad from Tokyo 3-2 on Sunday, with an eighth-inning home run by Carriker, a 12-year-old shortstop.</p><p>"Every little kid's dream is to win the Little League World Series," said Carriker, who wears braces on his teeth. "Words can't explain what was going through my mind."</p><p>After the team arrived, they were immediately herded to a roped off area in the atrium of the airport to talk with reporters. Curious onlookers standing in the atrium waiting for their flights cheered as the team was introduced.</p><p>"They brought home one of the biggest trophies you can achieve in amateur sports," manager Mickey Lay told the crowd gathered around the team. "They were true ambassadors of the city of Warner Robins."</p><p>Jubilant Georgia players hugged Carriker on Sunday as he reached the plate following the homer. Lay lost his hat after joining the team in celebration following a tense game marked by excellent pitching.</p><p>Georgia reliever Kendall Scott struck out 10 and allowed one hit over five-plus innings to quiet Japan's bats after Georgia fell behind 2-0 early.</p><p>Scott left the game in the top of the eighth, with Zane Conlon getting the last out.</p><p>That set up Carriker's homer. He was hitting .769 in the World Series entering Sunday's game, but was 0-for-2 with a walk when he came up in the eighth.</p><p>He said a little prayer before settling himself in the batter's box.</p><p>"God, please give me the strength to get a hit and help my team out," Carriker said in recounting his prayer.</p><p>His cousin, Karley Gann, 13, went to the championship game to support her cousin.</p><p>"The games were the longest game in history _ that's what it felt like," she said, holding a bunch of gold and red balloons.</p><p>The moment her cousin hit the game-winning homer, it was like "everyone needed an oxygen mask because everyone forgot to breathe," Karley said.</p><p>Scott said he quickly broke away from the celebration after Sunday's game to comfort his Japanese opponents, who were crying after their loss.</p><p>"They were all on their knees like they had been shot," Scott said Monday at the airport. "I hated to see them cry after how hard they worked."</p><p>The bus carrying the Tokyo team and the team from Taiwan caught fire Monday morning near Bucknell University after leaving South Williamsport. Another bus picked them up a couple of hours later to take them to Baltimore-Washington International Airport.</p><p>No one was injured in the blaze.</p><p>___</p><p>AP reporter Dorie Turner contributed to this story from Atlanta</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/8/91619