BOSTON — Matt Gonick remembers watching Gov. Deval Patrick on television during his election to office.
Yesterday, the right fielder for Peabody West Little League shook Patrick's hand at a Statehouse ceremony honoring his team, the New England Regional Champions.
"It was really cool," Matt said. "I met the governor of our state."
It's been a rapturous six weeks since the boys from Peabody put down their bats and gloves for an unprecedented season that took them all the way to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The players' success has earned them invitations big and small, from local ice cream stands to epic destinations like Fenway Park.
Yesterday, the team got its chance to meet the state's top boss in the building with the golden dome.
But the governor seemed impressed to shake hands with the players.
"It's pretty cool," Patrick said of his young visitors yesterday. "I was so excited to have them do so well."
Gonick wasn't the only one to appreciate the time with the governor.
"He's nice," pitcher Nick Bona said.
Other players had their own adjectives to describe their moment with the governor.
"It's intense," left fielder Anthony Cravotta said.
"It's awesome," pitcher Austin Batchelor said.
After shaking hands, the team was ushered into a reception room where Patrick's staff sweetened the visit with homemade cupcakes decorated as baseballs.
The team had group pictures taken with the governor and Peabody's legislators Sen. Fred Berry and Reps. Joyce Spiliotis and Ted Speliotis,
Then, the players, coach Dan Marchese and a group of parents were off on a Statehouse tour, picking up tidbits of Massachusetts' history along the way.
The grandeur of the building wasn't lost on the players.
"There's a lot of marble," third baseman J.J. Layton said.
The group was off to see the House of Representatives chamber where they were introduced to the legislators.
"This is cool," J.J. said as he entered the mahogany-lined room.
Dan Pino, who works for Secretary of State William Francis Galvin, ushered the team through one stately hall after another, explaining everything from the significance of the stained-glass windows near the Grand Staircase to the flags in the Hall of Flags.
Home run slugger Matt Hosman appreciated Pino's explanation of the governor's lonely walk, a tradition begun after an unpopular Gov. Benjamin Butler left the building unaccompanied.
"It's cool standing in the same room as other famous people," he said.
Court officer Mike Tierney took the team into the blue Senate Chamber and told the team about the symbolic markers in the room and famous traditions like leaving each senator a stack of printed bills tied with red ribbon.
"The phrase, 'All tied up in red tape,' comes back to here," he told the group.
Tierney finished his part of the tour, letting the group out on the Senate balcony where they took in sweeping views of downtown Boston and peered down on Boston Common.
"The thing that impressed me the most was the view on the balcony," second baseman Michael Petrosino said.
After nearly two hours in the building, the group finished their trip to Boston with pizza in Berry's office. The Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies game played on a flat-screen television in the background.
Peabody West's invitations have begun to wind down. Among their last invitations is Saturday's opening game with the professional hockey team the Lowell Devils.
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