Boys of Summer: The 1996 Cranston Western Little League Team

The 2015 Cranston Western team are not the first to represent the city in the Little League World Series. In 1996, Cranston represented not only New England but the entire Eastern seaboard. The LLWS field was just eight teams and the Rhode Islanders made some noise in the tournament right off the bat. Powering their way through their competition and beating Panama City, Florida to take home the United States Championship.

Larry Lepore, an assistant on this year’s Cranston team, was also an assistant back in 1996.

“It was totally upside down,” said Lepore. “We heard stories of house parties, bar, restaurants and everyone jumping on the bandwagon. It was really special.”

Cranston Western got the chance to play for a world title against Chinese Taipei.

Unfortunately the Rhode Island boys fell short, but they still returned home to a king’s welcome.

“The state police picked us up at the border,” said Lepore. “Then the Cranston police. There had to be 20,000 people lining the streets. Then we went back to Cranston Stadium for a huge celebration. It was crazy.”