Family affair
By John Denny
Staff Reporter

From left, Maria, Pete and Angela Gillis take in a game during the Senior League Softball World Series. Photo by JONATHAN STARKEY

Amodei’s next-door neighbor, Pete Gillis, and his daughters Maria and Angela were practicing pitching in their back yard. Gillis is now the manager of the South Bend, Ind., All-star team representing the Central region in the 2006 Senior League Softball World Series, and his girls are two of his four pitchers.

“There was snow on the ground,” said Amodei, a coach for Central’s 2006 All-Star team. “That’s what you have to do,” he explained.

That work ethic has landed the Gillises not one but three trips to Little League’s highest stage. In 2002, with the Central regional birth, Gillis and his two daughters led a Major League Softball team to the World Series in Portland, only to lose to a team from Waco, Texas, in the semifinals.

Two years later, though, in Seattle, Wash., a Central team led by the Gillises dominated competition, remaining undefeated to win the Junior League Softball World Series. Angela said that this year’s Central team has a good chance to win another championship, if they do something that comes pretty natural.

“If we work hard, I think we can do it,” she said.

Pete Gillis, 16-year-old Angela Gillis and 15-year-old Maria Gillis certainly didn’t leave that hard-work ideal in Indiana. Each day, the team practices at least two hours, fielding ground balls, working on hitting the cut-off man and taking at least 80 swings each. And before a game, the team arrives 90 minutes early to take extra swings.

Before Angela Gillis pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout in a 7-0 win against West on Tuesday, the team practiced for 45 minutes in the early-morning rain and watched two game films of the opposing California team.

“We work hard on the fundamentals, the things that beat you,” Pete Gillis said. “We practice a lot. We learned in 2004 (to) try to get as much practice as we could.”

It shows. Central had not allowed a run in their last two games and outscored their opponents 21-1 in its three World Series wins through Wednesday. But learning to practice — something that was evidently taught at home and through experience in tournaments such as this week’s — isn’t the only thing the Gillises have picked up over the years.

Maria Gillis admitted that as an 11-year-old playing in the 2002 Major League Softball World Series, she had some jitters.

“I’m a lot less nervous (now),” said the 15-year-old, who pitched a complete game in the team’s eight-inning opening 2-1 win over Southwest and had the game-winning single on Sunday. “I’ve had experience and I trust this team. I think we’re going to do very good.”

When asked the same question about Central’s chances in this week’s third annual pairing of Lower Sussex Little League and the Senior League Softball World Series, Pete Gillis was a little more apprehensive than his daughters.

But, he repeated the same answer at least two times. “Work on our weaknesses,” Pete Gillis said.

It seems safe to say that every day this week, even if it’s raining or if some snow falls this August, the Gillises and their third World Series Central team will be at the ballpark, hitting the cut-off man, bunting and, undoubtedly, throwing more pitches.

“We practice as long as we can,” Pete Gillis said. “You got to love the game. These kids love it.”