Image: Johnston Patch
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Putting this story together was a perfect example of how social media and mobile capabilities can be used to make great online coverage.
Johnston’s 13- to 14-year-old Junior Little League Squad finished third in the nation in 2011, and fourth in the world, after dominant performances locally and at the New Jersey regionals that summer.
When the kids had their state tourney at Memorial Park, I made sure to get a few people working on the coverage. Three or four other Patch towns had teams in the tournament, so we all shared the cost of a couple of freelancers.
I also went down, to see these kids for myself. They had a dedicated fan club, in fact, and a lot of power in the line-up.
Once the Johnston squad made it out of Rhode Island, I searched online for sources and found several sites that provided updates. I also went on Facebook and found two Johnston moms who were traveling with the team and agreed to share their photos with Patch.
As they progressed into the Junior Little League World Series in Michigan, I also put an email out to Patch editors near the playoff site, and was directed to Dave Gorgon, a Patch freelancer and also head of photos for the tournament, so I’d be getting some good visuals.
By the time they played Tampa, FL, on Aug. 15, I had a live-blog website running to watch the games as they happened. I also had the chance to talk by cell phone with a couple of the players and their coach, Ed Bedrosian, to get quotes.
Gorgon also reported that Johnston’s trip to the JLLWS was the first-ever by a Rhode Island team, meaning I was following history being made.
The local squad ultimately finished at .500 for the World Series and 8-3 overall in the postseason, and I was able to have the most comprehensive [and immediate] coverage of the team’s accomplishment, thanks to a combination of teamwork with other local Patch editors and contributions from contacts I made online.
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