All-black team makes history with D.C. Little League championship victory
The Mamie Johnson Little League team has made history. It just became the first all-African American team to win the D.C. Little League championship in the league's 31-year history, CBS Washington, D.C., affiliate WUSA reports.
The youth baseball team is now advancing to the regional tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, after beating Capitol Hill Little League 14-7 in the title game on Tuesday.
The Mamie Johnson Little League team is only the second all-African American team to compete in the championship game.
The team was created in 2015, and named after Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, a Washington, D.C., resident who was the first female pitcher in the Negro Leagues.
The team, made up of mostly 12- and 13-year-olds, celebrated their big win on the field after the game -- but not for long. By Wednesday, they were already back at their home base, the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, practicing for next month's regional tournament.
"We heard the team in New York is good, but we can be better," player Joshua Young said, WUSA reported.
He said baseball was a new sport to him when the team was created. "I didn't understand it at first, but now I like it," the third baseman said.
The team's goal is to "provide youth with a safe, fun and family oriented program that demonstrates the ideals of good sportsmanship, character, teamwork, courage and respect," according to the Mamie Johnson Little League website.
Now, they're doing much more than that. The team is excelling, and coaches say the league is preparing kids for whatever is thrown their way -- in baseball and in life.
"Keeping them off the streets is paramount. I think this gives them a great outlet. We not only stress baseball, but education," coach Keith Barnes said.
Young said he hopes he can lead his team to the Little League World Series and make history, just like Mamie "Peanut" Johnson did over six decades ago.
