Abbott-O-Rabbit Little Leaguers are out to show ‘Alaska baseball has something to offer’ at Northwest Regional

Fresh off winning their second majors state championship in the past two years, Anchorage’s Abbott-O-Rabbit Little League Baseball All Stars will be competing at the 2024 Little League Baseball Majors Northwest Region Tournament from Aug. 3-8 in San Bernardino, California.

After defeating Sitka last Saturday at the state tournament in Ketchikan, they proved to be the top 11-12 year old team in Alaska, and now will get an opportunity to contend for a regional title and potentially further on national television. The Little League regionals and World Series are broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.

“It’s pretty cool and a lot more than you would expect,” head coach Matt Nevin said. “You see it on TV but the opportunity to come down here and experience it and how cool of an event this is and the people that run it. The complex is amazing and it’s the nicest field we’ll likely ever see as a youth baseball team.”

Abbott-O-Rabbit dropped its first game in the tournament on Saturday, falling to a team from Bend, Oregon 6-2. The Alaska team is back in action Monday against a team from Washington. The game starts at 8 a.m. AKDT and is on ESPN+.

Abbott-O-Rabbit dominated the competition for most of the season with the lone exception being in the state semifinals where they had a tight game with the Palmer All Stars.

Following a triple in the sixth inning, Abbott-O-Rabbit was able to tie the game and force extra innings. They held Palmer scoreless after notching a go-ahead run in the top of the seventh.

In the state title game against Sitka, Abbott-O-Rabbit got a no-hitter from pitcher Noah McGarry to complete a three-game series sweep.

Nevin’s son Mason primarily plays shortstop but is also one of the team’s top pitchers. Being on this ride with him has made it even more special to experience.

“Having coached him and been a part of some of the successes along the way, having won our little league citywide tournament one year, winning state titles at the 8-10 (age) level and now this state title this year was pretty cool,” Nevin said.

Despite being a team with some obstacles compared to some of the other teams they will be facing down in California, Abbott-O-Rabbit’s overall confidence level is still pretty high.

“Being from Alaska and with our seasons being so short, we don’t have a ton of games because of that,” Nevin said. “Some of the teams that are coming in have 40 or 50 games and we have 12 regular season games and then 10 district and state games so we’re sitting at 22 games total.”

Their regular season runs from mid-May to the end of June followed by district play in early July. Upon the completion of the state tournament late in the month, the champion immediately travels down to regions the following week.

In addition to not being big on experience compared to most other teams in the tournament, Nevin admits they also aren’t very big in terms of the average size of their players.

“Some of the teams from Northern California and Hawaii and even Washington have us beat in the size department,” he said. “(However), we play good baseball, we have good pitching, make good decisions and those help us stay in any game.”

With some Alaskans shining internationally this week at the 2024 Paris Olympics, to be able to represent the 49th state on even a regional stage is still a tremendous honor for Abbott-O-Rabbit’s players and coaching staff.

“We fight all season to get to this point and we play some very good baseball teams in Alaska,” Nevin said. “No matter who wins (state) every year, we always root for the winner that comes out to represent the state down here in San Bernadino.”

They intend to make everybody back home proud by “showing the world and the country that Alaska baseball has something to offer,” Nevin said.

Alaska will face Oregon on Saturday at 5 p.m. AKDT and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.