SANTA CLARA — Southern Utah’s boys and girl of summer are coming home.
The Snow Canyon Little League all-stars, who represented the Mountain Region as the first-ever representative of Utah in the Little League World Series, are expected to arrive home at St. George Regional Airport Wednesday afternoon. After that, Santa Clara city officials say they will be greeted with a brief celebratory parade culminating in a celebration at the Snow Canyon Little League complex.
“We just want to celebrate these kids,” Santa Clara City Manager Brock Jacobsen said.
The all-stars were eliminated Sunday after losing their second game of the double-elimination tournament.
The team will be missing one teammate.
Easton Oliverson, who suffered a cracked skull and other injuries after falling off a bunk bed a few nights before the first game at the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, continues to recover at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in nearby Danville.
Easton has made progress but suffered a setback over the weekend after falling on to his head while trying to go to the restroom, his family said.
That pushed ahead to until at least next week a plan to move him closer to home to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. But his family said his condition improved a great deal Tuesday, including walking the entire floor with little assistance and playing catch with a stuffed animal.
As for the rest of his team, they will be treated to an initial welcome from residents and families at the airport when their flight arrives at 5:23 p.m.
From there, the team will gather at Snow Canyon High where they will board Santa Clara-Ivins Fire vehicles and join a parade to the Snow Canyon Little League complex.
Because of the welcome home, the Santa Clara City Council is playing second fiddle to the Little League kids. Their council meeting, scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at Santa Clara Town Hall, is being postponed until at least 6:30 – or whenever the city is finished celebrating their heroes.
“This is bigger,” Jacobsen said of the local team. “This is more important than if we miss 6:30.”
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