Walpole takes on the world

Hundreds of residents gathered at the Town Common yesterday to send off the Walpole American 12-year-old All-Stars, who embark this morning for Williamsport, Pa., and the Little League World Series this morning.

Walpole has a few days off before playing Great Lakes champion Hamilton, Ohio, on Friday at 2 p.m. in Pool A play, to be televised on ESPN.

‘‘We actually have no idea what to expect in Williamsport. We’ll find out (this) morning when we pull in and then when we are playing in front of 50,000 people on Friday afternoon,’’ said Walpole American manager Brian Oberacker.

‘‘This is something we are all going to remember for the rest of our lives. They are a special bunch of kids and they really deserve it. We’re all proud of them and the town of Walpole is proud of these boys as well.’’

The Americans earned the right to represent New England and compete for the world title by clubbing six home runs in their 14-4 drubbing of Connecticut’s Shelton National team Saturday.

‘‘They have made themselves proud, their families proud, obviously the town and certainly the commonwealth. I was at an event in Seekonk (Saturday) and they had the game on and the people were going crazy,’’ said state Sen. James Timilty, the Norfolk and Bristol Democrat, whose district includes a portion of Walpole. Timilty said he plans to attend Friday’s game.

‘‘The Little League World Series is all that is right with sports,’’ he said. ‘‘Regardless of what occurs, they have made the commonwealth pretty proud.’’

Complete with a police and fire escort through town, the rally ended at the Town Common where hundreds of fans cheered on their heroes and got to view the New England Regional championship banner and the Massachusetts state champion trophy.

‘‘It’s a great turnout. We had a big number of fans that came out to support us today. It was great for us to bring it home to Walpole, who hasn’t really had any baseball things happen in the past couple of years,’’ said second baseman Tim Sullivan. ‘‘Hopefully, we can go and make some noise in Williamsport.’’

‘‘These fans have been supporting us all year. Hopefully, they will be watching us on TV in the Little League World Series,’’ said third baseman Matt Bender. ‘‘The support has been great. Everyone from different towns has been coming up and supporting us. It’s been a real pleasure to have these fans.’’

Former Red Sox manager and Walpole native Joe Morgan was on hand to send the 13 players off and even requested the team sign a ball for him.

Gerry Anzalone, coach of the 1991 Walpole National squad that captured the state title, gave some words of advice and Oberacker introduced each player to the crowd.

‘‘This summer has been amazing. For me to be able to go through this with one of my best friends, Jared Ruggieri, my father Wayne Oberacker and one of his good buddies, Rick Murphy, we knew we had a good team but we didn’t think we were going to make it this far. This is something special,’’ said Oberacker.

‘‘Anytime any team can play on ESPN it’s a thrill. For these 12-year-old kids to be able to say they did that, it’s amazing,’’ added Oberacker. ‘‘I don’t think it’s totally sunk in. I think it’s going to be another great feeling when we pull into Williamsport in a couple of hours. For a small town like Walpole this has been the best thing that’s happened to them. It’s really put Walpole on the map and we’re just proud of the kids for being a part of it.’’