Northern Team Mom Relishes Championship Duties
By Beth Welch
Columbus Community News
Northern Little League All-Star Manager Randy Morris is a smart man. At the celebration recently honoring him and his Little League World Series champions, Morris wisely gave credit to a woman who helped him along the way. It was his team mom Lynne Phillips.
The mother of Northern player J.T. Phillips, Lynne asked to be team mom one more season for the Pirates, her son's little league team. Her husband, John, coached the Pirates with Richard Carter who also had a son, Kyle, on the team.
Phillips thought her tour of duty was over when her son made all-stars. "I wasn't planning on doing it for all-stars, but Richard became the coach and the manager Randy Morris asked me to help out," said Phillips, who also has a daughter, Mallory.
The team mom job was about the same until the all-stars made it to state.
"State is the hardest to coordinate because you have to make all the plans yourself," she said. "In Augusta, we had to get the rooms, and the boys stay with the parents in the rooms. You do your boy's laundry and hope to find a hotel that has a breakfast bar to feed them."
TRAVEL AGENT. When Northern advanced to regionals in St. Petersburg, Fla., Phillips helped make accommodations and kept other parents updated, but was relieved the boys' laundry was handled by others.
"Florida was a lot of fun," she said. "We were able to spend time together as parents and a team. Sometimes I would call around to find a restaurant that could accommodate 55 people for dinner and then we would all go together."
As winners of the Southeast region, Northern barely had time to catch their breath and repack their bags before heading to Williamsport for the Little League World Series. But this time, everything was a whole new ballgame.
"The boys stayed in a separate facility and the security was very tight," said Phillips. "We couldn't check them out unless we had Richard or Randy with us so we tried to do everything as a team as much a possible."
Upon arrival in Williamsport, many of the Northern parents quickly found their sons and the team they represented were a hot commodity.
"After two days, all the Southeast hats sold out," she said. "Some of the boys did not even get one. And we would be somewhere eating and people would walk up to have pictures made with the boys or send complimentary ice cream to them."
CHIEF MOM. Her job as team mom became more like a chief financial and information officer. She handled the finances and worked the cell phone to let other parents know about practice times, game schedules and outings for the boys.
Phillips is quick to point out that she had a lot of help all along the way.
"The parents all pitched in," she said. "Cindy Carter is the best laundry person in the world and Jimmy Lester handled all the logistics in Williamsport."
Phillips has numerous stories and great memories of the whole experience. Her favorites?
"I guess sitting on the floor in the laundry mat at 3 a.m. playing cards waiting for uniforms to dry," she said after thinking for a moment. "That and being somewhere in Williamsport and strangers come up and compliment us on our boys' behavior."
The two things Phillips would most like the public to know about the past few weeks involves the response of her hometown and the leadership of Randy Morris.
"I can't say thanks enough for everything people have done," she said. "My employer Synovus has been so good to me and the boys have been just overwhelmed with everyone's generosity."
"I would also like everyone to know that Randy Morris is a really good person," continued Phillips. "He is the same guy no matter what."
When asked if she had a good time, her eyes brightened and she positively beamed. "I could have stayed another week. It's baseball morning, noon and night up there. It doesn't get any better than that."