In this Aug. 27, 2014, file photo, members of the Jackie Robinson West All Stars Little League baseball team participate in a rally celebrating the team’s U.S. Little League Championship in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

(The Washington Post) – Some saw the news on their televisions as they dressed for school or caught fleeting references as they stole pre-dawn glances at Twitter. Others were still in bed, just waking up, when a parent broke the news. Still others, such as outfielder/pitcher Lawrence Quincy Noble, were already on their way to school when a call came in.

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“It’s your grandmother, Q,” Noble’s grandfather told him from behind the wheel, using his grandson’s nickname. “They’re taking the title away from you.”

In the immediate aftermath that morning, Feb. 11, there were tears shed all over the South Side of Chicago. “It took away a little piece of my heart from me,” recalled Noble, 13, who tried to muddle through the school day but required early dismissal at 11:30 a.m. after he buried his face in his hands at his desk and started crying.

There was also anger and confusion, as well as a dark, gnawing feeling that someday they might recognize as the ending of their childhoods. For the 13 members of the 2014 Jackie Robinson West Little League team, the news that Little League Baseball had stripped them of the U.S. championship they had won in the Little League World Series in August was a trauma they are still struggling to get over.

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