Reigning champs from Portland returning to Babe Ruth World Series

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) – Four teams from the Portland metro area are headed to the Babe Ruth World Series in varying age groups. FOX 12 spent time on the diamond with all of the regional champs this week, and the first stop is with the defending World Series champions from the City of Roses.

“It shows you how good Portland baseball is becoming, and we can really compete everybody in the world,” said Roscoe Mithoefer, junior from La Salle Prep.

When it’s so nice, why not do it twice?

“That would be amazing to go back-to-back, put our name in the history books would be pretty cool,” Paul Oellrich, class of 2024 graduate at McDaniel High School.

The Portland Babe Ruth 16-year-old All-Stars are going around the horn to repeat as a World Series champion in Branson, Missouri.

“We have a chance to be the last ever 13-15 winners and the first ever 13-to-16 winners,” Mithoefer said.

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“It’s still an honor. It’s amazing that we’re able to make it back-to-back,” said Silas Combs, junior at Franklin High School. “I can’t tell you if any other team has done that before but it’s pretty crazy.”

Thirteen of the 14 guys from last year’s title team are in a starring role from southeast Portland.

“This is like the neighborhood team people grew up playing for, like, we’re just all grown up,” said Peter Chan, junior at Jesuit High School.

The Rose City boys claimed the national crown a summer ago at the 13-to-15-year-old World Series in Jamestown, New York.

“Last year I feel like it was kind of, everyone was saying it was kind of just luck that we kind of just made it through but this time we kind of felt like this is kind of a way to prove that we are here, and Portland is a pretty big, we’re a presence here and we are growing the game in the city,” Chan said.

This World Series will truly be global with nine international teams joining 11 from the states.

“It’s kind of a new opportunity for us because I don’t know what Nigerian baseball is like, I think that’s going to be an exciting experience for us to learn about them and then to learn about the City of Portland, Oregon, and just the opportunity to share how Portland baseball is different from the rest of the world,” said Chan.

The boys are seeing red, crushing the competition at regionals in Casper, Wyoming by a combined score of 92-to-2 in six games.

“We’re putting Portland baseball on the map. We put it on the national scale last year and this year we’re putting it on a world scale,” said Mithoefer. “And I think that’s really important, and I think it can inspire more people to play baseball and show that baseball brings people together around the world.”

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The level of ball being played around the region is pretty darn good right now. Not only will the kids from Portland be heading off to Missouri for the World Series, but also the 12U team from West Linn is going to Branson, as well as the 18-year-old kids out of Kelso, Washington, and there is a 14-year-old group from Lakeridge heading down to Texas.

If you would like to support the boys from the Rose City on their journey to the Babe Ruth World Series, you can donate here.

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