Bellaire Little League History
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2009
Congratulations to our District 16 Champion 9-Yr-Old DTT!!
2008 - 12 year Old District 16 Champions and Section 3 Champions
The Bellaire Little League 12 year old All Star team had an impressive run this
past summer, making it all the way to the Texas East State Tournament in Tyler,
Texas. Bellaire won the District 16 Championship, going 5-0, with wins over
Westbury, West U American and National, First Colony American and, finally, Post
Oak to win the title. In the Texas Section 3 Tournament, the Bellaire All Stars
were again undefeated, including decisive wins over Baytown East and Pearland
White to send them to the State Tournament, where their exciting run finally
came to an end.
2003 - 9 Year Old District 16 Champions
Back Row: Coach: Rick Burns
Manager: Ron Walker Coach John Goss
Middle Row: S.Adair, B. Glauben, A.Bach, S.Weidig, L.Goodman, A. Denman
Front Row: A. Goss, B.Levinson, C.Burns, H.Ward, B.Levinson, K.Dart
2000 - National Champions
Nothing came easy for the team from Bellaire, Texas as they made their way to the championship game of the Southern Region tournament. Bellaire hit only one home run in four games preceding the title game. They committed nine errors. Their scheduled starter in the championship game had only pitched two innings in the tournament to that point. By contrast, Barboursville, West Virginia, hit sixteen home runs while rebounding from an early loss to win its bracket and gain a championship game berth. Barboursville's Mason Chapman would have tied the Southern Region record for most home runs in the tournament (five), except teammate Alex Whitt hit six. And Barboursville had its top two pitchers available for duty in the championship game bout. No contest, right? Well, no. Because the boys from Bellaire saved their best for last.
For the first time in five games, the Texas state champions did not have to play from behind. That's because they didn't allow their opponents anything. No runs -- and no hits. Behind the no-hit pitching of Ross Haggard and three-run homers from Alex Atherton and Michael Johnson, Bellaire overwhelmed Barboursville 10-0 in a championship game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule. Haggard, who struck out twelve, threw the first championship game no-hitter in Southern Region tournament history.
Haggard -- whose cool presence on the mound belied the magnitude of the game -- took control from the start. He struck out the side in the top of the first, fanning three players who combined for 13 home runs in Barboursville's seven prior tournament games. He struck out the side again in the third and the fifth, and allowed only two baserunners, neither of whom reached third base.
While Haggard kept Barboursville's offense bottled up, his teammates went to work offensively. In the bottom of the first, Drew Zizinia led off with a base hit. After a Barboursville error, Atherton drilled a three-run homer into the trees beyond the left-centerfield fence at Arnold White Stadium. Bellaire extended the lead on a walk, another Zizinia hit, and an error in the second, and Michael Johnson put the game out of reach with a three-run blast of his own in the fourth. When Bellaire added two more in the fifth (Zizinia -- again -- this time with an RBI single, and a throwing error that plated Mitchell Malone), Bellaire was on its way to the Little League World Series.
Bellaire's success stemmed in large part from the chameleon-like nature of the team: rather than riding the coattails of one or two key players, Bellaire relied on different contributors almost every game. In the opener, it was Michael Johnson, who drove in a pair of runs and survived two early Jonathan Hutto home runs to throw an eight inning complete game as Bellaire rallied past Columbus Pioneer (Georgia) 5-4. The next day, Zizinia and Ben Silberman each drove in a pair of runs and Zizinia scored three times as Bellaire defeated Picayune (Mississippi) 9-4. Bellaire scored in every inning and rapped out eight hits, while Zizinia and Haggard combined to stifle the Mississippi offense.
The
next game, it was Atherton. He stumbled early, spotting Mobile Westside
(Alabama) a first inning lead on Zack Cates' two-run single, then recovered to
allow only one hit over the remaining five innings. He also turned the game
around in the fourth inning. In the top of the frame, Mobile loaded the bases
with nobody out but failed to add to their lead when Atherton registered three
of his fourteen strikeouts. The Bellaire pitcher then helped his own cause in
the bottom of the inning by driving in Hunter Johnson and Silberman with a
double that tied the score. One inning later, Michael Johnson delivered
Bellaire's only pre-title game homer, and the Texans moved into the championship
game of their bracket with the 3-2 win.
In the bracket finals, Bellaire reprised their earlier comeback against Columbus Pioneer. The Georgia champions scored three times on wild pitches in the first three innings, and jumped to a 4-0 lead. Michael Johnson and Silberman delivered RBI singles in the third to halve the deficit, and Atherton tied the game with a two-run double in the fourth. That set the stage for Terrence McConn. Bellaire's catcher -- billed as "the Master of Disaster" by his teammates -- ruined Pioneer's afternoon with a two-run single that pushed Bellaire into the lead. Michael Johnson, who pitched five innings in relief of Zizinia, registered a strikeout with two runners on base in the top of the sixth to preserve the 6-4 win.
After defeating Barboursville in the tournament finale, Bellaire boarded a plane for the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They were in safe hands. Once airbourne, Bellaire learned that their pilot had been a member of the Westbury American LL all-star team from Houston in 1966 -- the last Texas team to win the Little League World Series.
Bellaire's storybook season continued at the World Series. Behind four home runs (including two from McConn) and Haggard's four-hitter, Bellaire defeated Davenport East (Iowa) 8-0 in the United States championship game before finishing as the World Series runner-up.
Little League Baseball History
Little League baseball had its beginnings in 1938, when Carl E. Stotz of Williamsport, PA, formulated rules and playing field dimensions for a group of neighborhood boys.
The following year, the league was formally established with three teams, each sponsored by a local business, and a second league was added in 1940.
The idea spread rapidly after World War II. In 1947, Hammonton, NJ, established the first league outside of Pennsylvania, and the first National Little League Tournament (now known as the Little League World Series) was held. Little League expanded to 94 leagues in 1948, 307 in 1949, 776 in 1951, more than 1,500 in 1952, and more than 3,300 in 1954. By 1955, there were teams in all 48 contiguous states, as well as in Canada. Berlin, Germany, became the first European entry in the Little League World Series in 1960, when the final game was broadcast live on national television for the first time.
Bellaire, Texas.
Bellaire, on Interstate Loop 610, is surrounded by Houston, West University Place, and Southside Place in southwest Harris County. William Wright Baldwin, acting as president of the South End Land Company, founded Bellaire and Westmoreland Farms after purchasing the 9,449-acre Rice Ranch in 1908. Baldwin was a native of Iowa and nationally known as vice president of the Burlington Railroad. The development was six miles from Houston on the eastern edge of the Rice Ranch, so named for former owner William Marsh Rice. Promotional advertising in 1909 explained that Bellaire was named for the area's Gulf breezes, but Baldwin may have named it for Bellaire, Ohio, a town served by his railroad. By 1910 Baldwin had invested over $150,000 in capital improvements to turn the treeless prairie into an attractive location for residences and small truck farms. From the site to Main Street in Houston he constructed Bellaire Boulevard. He also incorporated the Westmoreland Railroad Company to build an electric streetcar line down the center of the boulevard. The streetcar, known as the "Toonerville Trolley," operated from December 12, 1910, until bus service replaced it on September 26, 1927. In 1910 horticulturist Edward Teas was induced to move his nursery from Missouri to Bellaire Boulevard to implement landscaping plans drawn by landscape architect Sid Hare. A Bellaire post office opened in 1911. On June 24, 1918, with a population of about 200, Bellaire obtained a general-law city charter. The population reached 1,124 by 1940. Houston's expansion after World War II transformed Bellaire into a popular suburb, but geographical growth was halted when Houston annexed the surrounding land on December 31, 1948. In April 1949 Bellaire adopted a home-rule charter with a council-manager government. The city had 10,173 residents in 1950. The population was 19,872 in 1960, 16,331 in 1987, 13,842 in 1990 and 15,642 in 2000.
(Updated: Monday, July 27, 2009)