Point of View | written by: Darien MagazineCT Editorial Staff
Photo courtesy Darien Little League
EARLIER THIS YEAR, Peter Saverine took us back through the history of Darien’s beloved McGuane Field—a place where generations of children have learned to play baseball, be teammates and dream about where the game might someday take them. This summer, one extraordinary group of Darien Little Leaguers added a new chapter to that story.
They won Districts. Then Sections. Then Connecticut’s State Championship—the first for Darien since 1961. They battled through elimination games until, in the Metro Region championship, they stood just six outs from every Little Leaguer’s dream: The Little League World Series in Williamsport.
That final loss hurt. But what this team accomplished was about much more than a final score.
“There were definitely some tough moments, but the boys never stopped believing in each other,” Manager Joe Paccione said. “I told the boys after the game that regardless of the outcome, they were already winners. To have the opportunity to play on that field, in that game, on national television with Todd Frazier calling it, was something incredibly special.”
Paccione wanted the boys to recognize that their summer could not be measured by whether they reached Williamsport.
“I wanted them to understand just how unique what they accomplished was, and that they were able to accomplish it because they learned to trust one another, play for one another and truly come together as a team.”
There were home runs, strikeouts and spectacular plays, certainly. But there were also walks drawn at just the right moment, a sliding catch by Johnny Huntington, contributions from the bottom of the order by Huntington, Logan Masi and Wells Johnson, Roscoe Hurty taking the ball when his team needed him, and Luca Hidaka calmly turning the double play that sent Darien into the regional final.
It was, as Paccione called it, a “next man up” team. And perhaps that was the most important lesson of all: every player mattered.
For Hurty, one of the summer’s defining moments came when Paccione handed him the baseball with everything on the line.
“I’ve never had that much pressure on me, but Coach Paccione trusted me, so I felt ready,” Hurty said. He found himself energized by the players around him—and by the thousands of people watching.
“It was the coolest feeling to be in that situation, with teammates who were all locked in, and with what felt like the whole town cheering us on,” he said. “I told myself: ‘No pressure, just pitch like you know you can.’”
Team captain Hugh Butler understood that the foundation of the team was connection, and trust. That trust became even more important when the games got difficult.
“You need to trust your teammates and your coaches, especially in tough games,” Hugh said. “Because we have been playing together for years and are good friends outside of baseball, we always stuck together and battled in the big games.”
That friendship helped turn a talented group of young players into something bigger than the sum of its parts.
And while the boys were on the field, an entire community was taking the journey with them—family, former Little Leaguers, coaches, neighbors and countless Darien residents following every inning, some from vacation spots around the globe. McGuane Field, and the boys who had grown up playing there, suddenly seemed to belong to everyone.
The end brought conflicting emotions.
“There was pride for all the team accomplished and for their poise and maturity,” said John Butler, Hugh’s father, “and sadness that an unexpected journey that meant so much to so many was finally at an end.”
That combination of pride and sadness may be the best measure of what the summer had come to mean: The boys had sacrificed for the team—camps, sleepovers and other pieces of a typical summer. In return, they experienced the feeling of an entire community believing in them. And they learned that the biggest moments in baseball are rarely created by one player alone.
“The 2026 12U Darien team should be remembered for their heart—for never giving up, battling hard against all odds and making clutch plays in the biggest games,” John said.
That heart was visible throughout their run. It was there when another loss would have ended their season. It was there when players who had not always been in the spotlight were called upon to contribute. It was there in the dugout, where teammates celebrated one another’s successes and encouraged each other through mistakes. And it was there in the final game, when the dream of Williamsport slipped away.
Baseball can be particularly unforgiving that way. A season’s worth of work can come down to a handful of pitches, a bounce of the ball or one final out. But Paccione reminded his players that the scoreboard could not erase everything that had come before.
Darien didn’t make it all the way to Williamsport. But these boys brought home something that may last considerably longer: lessons in resilience, friendship, sacrifice and what can be achieved when everyone—not just the stars—trusts each other and believes he has an important part to play.
And back at McGuane Field, there is now one more story for the next generation of Little Leaguers:
…A story about a group of boys who played for each other.
…A story about a coach who trusted his players—and players who learned to trust one another.
…A story about a town that watched, cheered and believed.
