Ex-Little Leaguers seek repeat as Idaho 5A champs
Lifelong friendships, it’s been said, are forged long before high school. If that’s true, the bond created among Coeur d’Alene’s 12 “Boys of Summer” in 2002 will truly last a lifetime.
Eleven 12 year olds and one 11 year old were selected to the Coeur d’Alene All-Star Little League team six summers ago, and they came together for a magical run that ended in the Northwest Regional championship game in San Bernardino, Calif.
Coeur d’Alene, which had defeated Hawaii 3-2 in pool play earlier in the tourney, lost 5-2 to Hawaii in a game played before 4,000 and a national television audience on ESPN2.
Seven members of that team continues to play today. Six of them – Trent Bridges, Nick Combo, Chris Combo, Tucker Anderson, Zach Clanton and Michael Korczyk – played on Lake City’s 5A state championship team last spring. The Combo twins, Bridges, Anderson and Clanton were starters. Another player in 2002, Aaron Page, who was the team’s starting catcher, plays at Gonzaga Prep.
Dennis Fenenbock, the team manager in 2002, remembers putting down on his application for manager that he wanted to coach the team to district and state titles and advance to the regional championship game at San Bernardino.
Six years later, Fenenbock wonders what could have happened had he taken it one step further and said he wanted to coach the team to Williamsport, Pa., site of the Little League World Series.
He never placed that pressure on the team, though. His approach at San Bernardino was to win the first game.
As it turned out, Coeur d’Alene came within three outs of advancing to Williamsport. CdA was ahead 2-1 going into the top of the sixth (Little League games are six innings) when Hawaii rallied for four runs and a come-from-behind victory.
Still, CdA brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the sixth with two outs. Page hit a line drive to right, but Hawaii’s Tony Fernandez made a spectacular diving catch to end the game.
The CdA players all took something away from San Bernardino. But they also left a little of CdA there. Fenenbock had each of the players bring some dirt from CdA’s LL field and before each game they put some of the dirt in their back pockets and threw it on the field at Al Houghton Stadium.
Four of the players – Bridges, the Combos and Anderson – were given $500 scholarships two weeks ago by the CdA LL at a ceremony to open the 2008 season. Fenenbock took the opportunity to give his 12 boys something they will treasure forever.
Fenenbock bought new uniforms that summer. After the last game, he collected them, washed them, sealed them in a plastic bag and stored them away. He gave the boys back their uniforms recently.
The six LC players are reminded of that summer anytime they’re together.
“It’s something that I’ll never forget,” said Bridges, a shortstop in 2002 and a shortstop at LC who has signed to play at Lewis-Clark State College. “Being that close to going (to Williamsport) was a heartbreaker.”
Many of the boys go back further than 2002. Some played together on six consecutive state LL title teams as early as 9 years old.
CdA wasn’t the second-best team at San Bernardino. Hawaii wasn’t the best team, either.
“Washington (Mill Creek) was definitely the best team,” recalled Clanton, LC’s ace pitcher.
CdA had secured a spot in the semifinals, but lost to Washington 7-2 in pool play. Hawaii upset Washington in the semifinals while CdA defeated Oregon 6-4.
“It was definitely the time of my life,” Chris Combo said. “Those are special memories.”
Combo got a small measure of redemption last year. He was the starting pitcher against Hawaii, and he was the starting pitcher last spring when LC topped Lewiston 7-1 in the state championship game.
He admitted he thought about the 2002 regional game before he pitched in the state high school final.
“I’ve never been so close to so many people in my life,” Anderson remembered. “That’s what made things special on that team.”
Anderson thinks the seeds for last year’s state title were planted back in Little League.
LC coach Cory Bridges, Trent’s dad, followed the team to San Bernardino. He also coached most of them on separate select teams.
“They played in front of 4,000 people, more than all their high school games combined,” Cory Bridges said. “They’ve been in a lot of big games in their careers.”
Korczyk didn’t start on the LL team and starts at LC when Anderson or Clanton is pitching. But he’ll always remember the game-winning hit he had in the pool win over Hawaii.
“That is my all-time personal memory,” Korcyzk said. “Winning state last year is right up there. The thing I remember about (2002) is nobody expected us to get to the regional title game.”
Now the “Boys of Summer” want to close out their playing careers together with one more state high school title.
“Even when we were 12 year olds we talked about winning a state high school championship,” Trent Bridges said. “We have targets on our backs after last year. Everybody talks about our group of (Little League) all-stars, but everybody on this team has a role and that’s what it will take to win the state title again.”