Media manager Tom Bradley’s message for the Little League World Series: ‘We’re out there to have fun’

Media Little League manager Tom Bradley knows how to keep his team poised in tough situations. A glimpse of his calm demeanor was showcased on ESPN last week when he gathered the infielders on the mound in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament.

He asked the Delaware County team, “Did I ever tell you the time my dog ate the rosin bag?”

“I saw the rosin bag as I’m walking to the mound on the ground and I just remembered the story that [when] my dog was a puppy, she got into my son’s bat bag, and he had a rosin bag in there,” said Bradley, who has been involved in the youth baseball and softball coaching scene for 25 years. “Luna pulled it out and was trying to get to an A2000 glove to chew on the leather straps. She did not swallow it or anything like that. No dogs were harmed.

“I like to take them out of the moment. I tell all kinds of stories. The look on their face when I walk out to the mound is promising. They want to know what’s going to come out of my mouth. I seriously don’t know until I actually walk out.

Bradley’s team, which went 3-0 in the tournament in Bristol, Conn., is now in its first Little League World Series after defeating Northwest Washington, D.C., 2-0, in the regional final.

Media will face Southwest Regional winner Needville (Texas) at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN), and, while the team hopes to bring home a title, Bradley has reminded the squad that it’s all about soaking up the experience.

“We’re out there to have fun,” Bradley said. “They got a lot of work to practice. We’ve done a lot of work together. We’ve been together for almost three months now. It’s been great hanging out with them. Sometimes they like it. Sometimes they don’t. But we told them if you put the work in, you’re going to get a reward for it. And it looks really good right now.”

He then asked the players, who stood around him on the phone, “How did you guys feel?” after punching their ticket to Williamsport.

“It was really cool. It only happens, like, not a lot or at all,” right fielder Christian Nunez said.

“It was pretty fun, pretty cool,” added first baseman Trevor Skowronek, who hit a walk-off two-run home run in the regional championship. “Hopefully that happens again.”

“Being in this position is like every other championship,” said Austin Crowley, who collected 13 strikeouts in five innings in the regional final. “Just a little more on the line, but I don’t really get nervous. I know it’s going to come down to whether we can get our at-bats going or not.”

» READ MORE: Media heads to Little League World Series after dramatic 2-0 win over Washington

Behind Bradley leading the charge is his son, Tommy, a graduate of Bonner-Prendergast. Tommy, a former catcher, is a baseball instructor and coach at On Deck Training Center in Newtown Square. He also has served as an assistant coach with Bonner-Prendergast.

The elder Bradley initially got involved in the Little League scene when his son started playing baseball about 12 years ago. He stopped coaching once Tommy went to high school so he could attend his games.

Tom Bradley started offering the Media Little League a hand after his son graduated high school in 2020. Bradley was approached about managing his current group as 10-year-olds. The league sought out a coach who didn’t have a player on the team who could stay objective and hopefully get the squad to this point.

“Me and my son Tommy coached them as 10-year-olds,” Bradley said. “We lost the district championship. Came back as 11-year-olds, we lost the district championship again to Aston, both times. This year, we finally beat Aston. They were the Mid-Atlantic champs last year. They won the state as 10-year-olds. Our districts have really strong teams.”

Throughout his stint as a Little League coach, Bradley has learned valuable lessons. He wants to help develop the players’ skills, but sometimes, like when a player is upset, he takes a calm approach to regain their focus and jokes around to keep the team loose.

He recalled the first time he used that tactic while coaching a softball game. The pitcher was crying because she couldn’t throw a strike with her team up one run in a bases-loaded situation. He went up to the circle and asked, “What did you have for breakfast?”

With a confused look, she told Bradley that it might have been cereal — Cap’n Crunch to be exact. He responded, “OK Cap’n Crunch, let’s throw some strikes” and walked away. She went on to record three strikeouts.

“I really go out there and I have fun,” Bradley said. “My wife will tell you, she said that I’m happier when I’m coaching because I’m having fun. I’m literally having fun with these kids. I hang out with them. It keeps me out of the bars. I’m a better person for coaching. It made me better.”

Besides the team enjoying the opportunity of representing the borough, the Media community has rallied together to celebrate the accomplishment. Fans held watch parties, outdoor festivities, and even showed up in Connecticut to cheer the Little Leaguers on.

Bradley anticipates a similar turnout in Williamsport.

“Media is awesome — we were lucky enough to have [the state tournament] 10 minutes from our field,” Bradley said. “We were able to get our fans in there, and it turned out there were a couple thousand people there at our championship game, which was really cool to see

“It’s a great community, and even the rest of our district has reached out to me, so teams we played against, they want to see us do good.”

The last time a local team won it all was Levittown Little League in 1960, when it defeated a team from Fort Worth, Texas. While Media hopes to make history by capturing the LLWS title, Bradley said his players are taking it day by day, one game at a time.

“I’ve never been here or sniffed this place, coaching-wise,” Bradley said. “It’s definitely a new experience. We just put the kids to work, and we stay day-to-day with our plan. We’re going to get busy and get ready to play Wednesday.”