001[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hello everyone. We're here at the Hopkinson Medway Little League Challenger World Series and with us now is Carrie Rich, who runs it for runs this program, right, for the Hopkin Challenge. I do. And I have to say that this is my most favorite day of the year. And Sundays are by far my favorite day of the week because we get to hang out with all these amazing players, their buddies, their parents, and coaches. And this is an extremely special event where we can get two challenger teams together and play a real game. Car, we were talking to the Medway coach earlier and it sounded like he had about 21 players on that team plus the buddies. What about over on the Hopkin side? So on the Hington side, we have about
002the same roster size, about 21, but we have an amazing group of 55 buddies that range in ages from 12 all the way up to seniors in high school. And they've gotten work shifts covered. They come every week, weekend and week out. And it's just an amazing commitment from a volunteer program. So that makes me very proud of this team. Oh, absolutely. And I mean, I've seen this program grow year over year. I mean, how long has have we been doing this? We're in our fifth season. We're in our fifth season. And what's fantastic about the growth is that we have players not just from the Hopington community, but from the Ashlin community, Milford, Hollist, and even buddies that come from Ashland and other communities surrounding Hopington. Good afternoon and welcome back to WACA. We're
003joined here today with one of our um amazing Challenger buddies who are here at the Challenger World Series. Um what is your name? Connor. Connor, how you doing today? Okay, I guess. Okay. You excited for this big game? Yep. Uh what is your what are you most looking forward to for today? Hitting and pitching. So, Connor, uh do you remember when when we first met? When I was when we were children. Yeah. when we were children, we actually shared the same kindergarten class, the Warren Elementary School in Ashland. Been friends ever since and yeah, we're here today. Okay, we're here at the uh Challenger Hopkins Medway World Series game and with us is Ashlin resident Brady. Brady, how are you? Good. Good. What's going on? Nothing. Can you tell us a little bit of why
004you're here today? Uh because I want to play baseball. Okay. Do you have a favorite position? I like hitting. You like hitting. Okay. Are you a big you big home run hitter? Uh maybe. Okay. Who's your favorite team? I see the Red Sox jersey. Red Sox. Um I'm excited about hitting the ball. Are you ready to play baseball today? Yeah. Yeah. How excited are you? You're three. Yeah. Are you excited? Yeah. Okay, good deal. Do uh what position do you play? Uh baseball. Okay, and welcome back to the Hopkin and Medway Challenger World Series here at Carrian Field. I'm here with the Medway Coach and assistant coach. And why don't we start with some easy questions. What are your names? My name is Jay Golden. What's your name? Scott Mackin. Scott Mackin. Okay. Good to
005have you both here today. Can you tell us a little bit about this program? Sure. So, we've had the uh Challenger baseball program in Medway for 5 years now. At Hopkin has as well, too. And I'm a special education teacher at Hopkin High School, but I live in Medway. Um, and at Hopkin High, I also coach the unified basketball team with Alec Lavine and Chip Collins. And, um, when Hopkin started their challenger team, um, we I started one in Medway. And so, we've been playing this World Series game for uh, five years now. U,, this is, I think, our fifth season doing it. And it's always a great time. It's tough for this guy because he is Mr. Hopinson. He coaches every sport in Hopington. Um, so he supports both teams as well, too. Which
006team are you going to coach today? Midway. Okay. Midway. But you got your Hopington jacket, too, so that's good. That's good. Sounds great. Anything we should be looking for in the game today? I'll tell you what you should look for. This is my man DJ right here. This is DJ. DJ, you want Okay, DJ's going to say hi real quick. He's our cleanup hitter. DJ's been playing for our team since we started it. So, um, I think we'll be looking for some good baseball and a lot of fun. It makes my heart sing that this is a program that we're able to offer everybody in the community for parents, players, buddies, um, and and volunteers like myself. So, it's it's a feel-good part of the week. Sounds great. Carrie, thank you so much for joining
007us. Thank you for all the work you do for this wonderful program, wonderful for the community. So, thank you. Thanks so much for being here. We appreciate it. Okay, that'll do it for us here from Carrian Field in Hopkin. Oh, go ahead. No, no, no. Please, please go. So, that'll do it for us here at Carrian Field in Hopkin. It's been the Hopkin Medway Challenger Little League World Series. We'll see you next year right back here at Carrian. [Music]