Williamsport is welcoming the world as the Little League World Series is about to begin, and a big parade is planned to get the fun started.
The Grand Slam Parade in Williamsport is a kickoff to the Little League World series. It includes marching bands, antique cars, fire trucks, and the guests of honor: the 16 teams participating in the Little League World Series.
Newswatch 16 spent some time at the Little League complex today as last minute preparations were underway.
Mother Nature couldn't make up her mind at the Little League International Complex in South Williamsport. It rained then it was sunny then it rained again. That caused some headaches for the grounds crew.
"Four inches of rain was quite a bit. We had the tarps on for pretty much 24 hours so that was 24 hours that we don't get to do much work on the fields," said groundskeeper Seth Whitehill.
There are six fields at the Little League complex including Lamade and Volunteer Stadiums, where all of the games are played.
Groundskeeper Seth Whitehill says crews will work until Thursday morning to get the fields ready to play ball.
"There won't be any issues playability-wise. Right now, we're more worried about aesthetics. We know the field's safe."
The hustle and bustle of preparations also took place off the field.
"Today is a little chaotic with setup and last night's rain didn't help."
Keven Crowley of Red Osier says he plans to sell between 3,000 and 5,000 sandwiches during the series.
"As a vendor, we are definitely looking forward to having a Chicago team plus a Pennsylvania team," Crowley said.
Of course, when it comes to preparations, it's the Little League World Series, so some of the hardest workers are the baseball players themselves.
"There's quite a bit of baseball. We go to the cage. Over here we've gone to the field once and batted twice now," said Blake Monaghan of the Australian team.
"We've been to the field a couple of times and been in the cages a couple of times, so we've done some hard batting and stuff like that," said Tarrant Reimers of the Australian team.
The 10th annual Grand Slam Parade kicks off at 6 p.m. and live coverage begins on WNEP2 and wnep.com starting at 6:30 p.m.
Newswatch 16 sport's Sharla McBride will be your host and Jim Coles your sideline reporter. You won't want to miss this parade. It's your first opportunity to meet all 16 teams playing in the Little League World Series.
