Support WBUR
Boston's Morning Newsletter
Meet the Mass. team representing New England in the Little League World Series
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
The Zakim Bridge and other local landmarks will be illuminated red and white tonight to mark the 90th anniversary of Social Security today. But first, the news:
Play ball: The Little League Baseball World Series is officially underway. And for the first time ever, the boys from Braintree are representing New England down in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Braintree American will play their first game today, after winning their regional tournament in chaotic fashion last week in Connecticut. "It's just incredible. You really can't put it into words. There's 6,000 little leagues in the United States, and only 10 of them get to make it here," assistant coach PJ Kippenhan told WBUR's Fausto Menard, describing the team as a resilient bunch who came together this summer in an unexpected way. "Braintree American never even won state," Kippenhan added. "Like it was a big deal for us to go to Bristol."
- Who to know: According to Kippenhan, the team has been carried lately by its pitching. Colman Gouthro has an "overpowering" fastball that reaches into the 70s, he said. (Gouthro also hit four home runs in four sectional tournament games last month.) Meanwhile, Frankie Fasoli, the son of Braintree head coach Frank Fasoli, has been " pitching the best I've ever seen him pitch," Kippenhan said. " We're a deep team... Our whole lineup can hit. Our pitching is top end. I think we should be able to compete."
- How to watch: The squad plays today at 3 p.m. against the Southeast champions from Irma, South Carolina on ESPN. Kippenhan said South Carolina may be considered the favorites, "but if we play our best game, we're tough to beat, too."
- What's next: The tournament is double-elimination. So, if they win, Braintree will advance in the U.S. winner's bracket and play next on Monday at 3 p.m. against the team from Las Vegas or Washington. If they lose, they'll drop into the elimination bracket and play Saturday at 3 p.m. (You can view the full bracket here.) "I'm just hoping to have fun," Braintree left-fielder Jack Cushing told Fausto. "Maybe get a couple hits and maybe win a game — win a couple games."
Whoosh: Late-night service isn't the only improvement coming to the MBTA in 10 days. As part of the new fall schedules, the Orange Line will start running trains as fast as 55 mph between Oak Grove and Assembly stations on Aug. 24. MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said at a meeting Tuesday the planned speed increase — which the T has been eyeing since January — will save riders five minutes a day, if they are making a roundtrip between those two stations. "We're excited about it," Eng said. "The riders have been waiting for this, and they deserve this type of service."
- T officials say it will be the first time in at least 20 years that any Orange Line trains go 55 mph. Though the stretch between Oak Grove and Assembly was originally designed for 55 mph trains, the speed limits were lowered to 40 mph due to safety concerns as track conditions worsened.
- Now, after months of track work, parts of the subway system are in good enough shape to handle faster speeds again. This past March, the T also sped up trains on the Red Line's Braintree branch from 40 mph to 50 mph.
Coming soon: Somerville is adding braille and raised text signs at 200 intersections to make the city easier for people with visual impairments to navigate. City officials say the new braille signs at crosswalks with pedestrian signals will help locate buttons that activate both audible and vibrating cues; some signs will also include street names in braille and raised text. Expect to see them installed in the coming weeks.
Aloha (the goodbye version): Nonstop flights between Boston and Hawaii are coming to an end this fall. Hawaiian Airlines announced this week it will stop running its 11-hour flights from Logan to Honolulu on Nov. 19 because of a lack of customers on the route. First launched in 2019, the route was the longest nonstop domestic flight in the world. Delta also recently canceled its Boston-to-Honolulu nonstop flights.
P.S.— The risk for West Nile Virus is now considered high in Boston, as well as Brookline and Newton. The Boston Public Health Commission raised the risk level yesterday due to the steady discovery of the virus in local mosquito samples (though no human cases of the virus have been reported so far this year in Massachusetts). Time to take NPR's surprising mosquito bite prevention quiz, or read our tips here.
