Davenport Northwest Little League manager Mark Erwin’s team had yet to be assembled, let alone play a game, but he could see plenty of possibilities for an all-star squad back in March.
That’s when Erwin showed up to Davenport’s Little League tryouts at Davenport North High School and watched a number of star players belt balls harder and heave them faster than what you typically see from boys that age.
“It made me feel it could be something special,” Erwin said in a phone interview with the Des Moines Register.
Erwin’s prediction turned out to be accurate. Now viewers across the country are seeing what Erwin observed in the spring after the collection of all-stars he put together became the first team from Iowa since 2022 to reach the Little League World Series. The Davenport group will play West Region champion Sweetwater Valley from Bonita, California, on Aug. 20 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“We’re pumped,” Erwin said. “It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime dream opportunity.”
The Little League World Series ends with a championship game between the winners of the United States bracket and the international bracket on Aug. 30. While this team has rolled through its competition, suffering just one loss since its creation, this is still new territory for them. Most of the team has played together for just a few months, with Erwin undergoing a separate set of tryouts at the end of May.
But as Erwin explained, the writing was on the wall about what kind of talent this team would have. Davenport has produced a ton of talented baseball teams over the years, reaching the LLWS in back-to-back campaigns in 2004 and 2005. Erwin knew his program had a chance to do some damage again this year.
The decision-making process wasn’t easy. Erwin had room for only 12 players on his team. He put together a roster that won state, district and regional championships to advance to the LLWS.
The Midwest Region clincher came on Aug. 14 when Anthony Johnson Jr. scored on a passed ball to beat Wisconsin 7-6 in an extra-inning thriller. It’s been a shock, even to the players.
“At first, I thought we’re not making it to Williamsport,” said Kannon Kane, a catcher and second baseman. “But we’re going there now.”
After a 13-0 win over North Dakota in a Midwest Region game, the realization started to set in that this was a special team.
“(When) we blew them out 13-0, I thought we had a really good chance,” said pitcher/center fielder Cooper Thissen.
Erwin credits his three big stars, Johnson Jr., Kane and Thissen, for a lot of the team’s success. Thissen and Johnson Jr. have seven home runs apiece; Kane has three. They’re also the top hurlers on the staff. Thissen has yet to allow an earned run.
“They’re our horses and we’ve been using them as leaders, and I think it’s just the made the rest of our guys jell and improve quite a bit,” Erwin said.
Is it all enough to make history? No Iowa team has won an LLWS title. Thissen thinks this group can be the first.
“I think we’ve got a good shot at it,” Thissen said. “I think we’re really good.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How Iowa team was assembled, qualified for Little League World Series
Reporting by Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
