Pisciotta’s Little League memories last forever

For many youth ballplayers, the Little League World Series is as good as it gets.

Make it to Williamsport, Pa., and you compete against the world’s best 11- and 12-year-olds, play in front of the biggest crowds of your life and have every cheer (and tear) shown on national TV.

Enlarge this image

Frank Niemeir / AJC

Marc Pisciotta, with son Kort, 5, pitched in front of more than 40,000 fans in the Little League title game and went on to play in the major leagues. His son now plays T-ball.

Enlarge this image

Special

The East Marietta all-stars defeated a team from the Dominican Republic 3-1 to win the 1983 championship.

Enlarge this image

Frank Niemeir / AJC

These commemorative Coke bottles are among Pisciotta’s championship memorabilia in his Canton home.

Most of the participants in this year’s series, which starts today, will never be more famous than they are right now.

Things got better, lots better, for Marc Pisciotta after he pitched the East Marietta all-stars to the Little League championship 25 years ago. He starred at Walton High and Georgia Tech and reached the majors with the Cubs and Royals.

But Pisciotta, now 37, married and a father of two, is forever tied to Little League. He has taken some ribbing about it, but he has always embraced the accomplishment.

“Looking back, it was a lot of fun. It was just baseball,” Pisciotta said Tuesday while sitting at the kitchen table in his Canton home. “I mean we knew it was big, but we didn’t know how big until later.

“In the championship game [a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic], we played in front of more than 40,000 people, but I really didn’t notice. It was like we were just playing a game. Later, we watched the replay, and we said, ‘Wow, look at all those people.’ “

The next time he would pitch in front of such a large crowd was in the big leagues, where he compiled a 4-5 record with a 4.24 ERA in parts of three seasons with the Cubs and Royals. He says the Little League experience helped prepare him for baseball as an adult.

Pisciotta recently watched a replay of the 1983 game on ESPN Classic as part of the cable network’s “TitleTown USA” series, which featured Williamsport as one of the best sports cities in America.

His wife, Alisa, taped the show and his daughter, Parkyr, 11, and his son, Kort, 5, noticed a few differences in their father. “They said, ‘Oh my gosh, Daddy, you’ve got hair,’ ” Alisa recalled.

“Daddy, you are old-school,” Kort said from the den during Tuesday’s interview.

As a 6-foot-2 12-year-old, Pisciotta (who is now 6-5) won eight of the 15 games the team played through state, regional and World Series tournaments. Few opponents could touch his fastball. The change-up? Well, that might have been a different story.

Manager Richard Hilton, who has coached for the East Marietta Little League for 44 years, allowed Pisciotta to throw one change-up in the final.

“I think it was in the third inning. The Dominican boy got up and hit the pitch to right field,” Hilton, now 73, said. “We didn’t throw another change-up.”

Kenny Carlson, who played first base, remembers the winning out. It was a 1-2 count and second baseman Joe Hutchinson moved to his left to scoop a ground ball and throw to Carlson.

“Then I go jump on Marc,” said Carlson, who lives in Marietta and still stays in contact with Pisciotta. “I spiked the ball like it was a football. If I was smart, I would have kept it.”

Carlson stays connected with East Marietta; his 5-year-old Kyle plays T-Ball in the league. Carlson played some ball in high school, but said, “I like to say I peaked in my career at age 12.”

Youth baseball has changed since Pisciotta’s days in East Marietta. You virtually never see kids playing pick-up games like in his childhood. With traveling teams and increased competitiveness among parents, coaches and kids, youth baseball has lost some of its innocence, he says.

“That’s too bad, but it’s where we are these days,” said Pisciotta, who owns an office-supply business that his mother started in the ’80s. “It’s much more serious now.”

The World Series has changed, too. It’s a 16-team double-elimination tournament now, with extensive ESPN coverage throughout. In ‘83, it was eight teams, single-elimination and the final was shown on ABC.

East Marietta Little League president Randy Agnew said the league aspires to get back to the accomplishments of 25 years ago. “We’re probably holding that championship in higher esteem than ever,” said Agnew, who said the league dedicated four new baseball fields in honor of Coach Hilton. “And with Columbus and Warner Robins winning the last two years, we’ve been re-energized. … We looked at those two teams and thought, we can play with them, too.”

For Pisciotta, he can’t look back at 1983 without looking forward. Kort played T-ball at Hobgood Park in Cherokee County this year and has already shown some ability. He hit off the tee his first two at-bats and then batted against coach-thrown pitches the rest of the way.

Father and son frequently play ball in the backyard, a “modified Fenway Park,” with a steep, grass-covered hill serving as the Green Monster.

“It’s fun to watch him learn. It’s even more fun when he comes up and says he wants to play in the backyard,” said Pisciotta, who now contemplates if Kort might find baseball greatness like him. “It’s come full circle in 25 years. It’s kind of weird. I never thought about him in those kind of terms.

“Maybe he’s got something passed down to him.”