Eleven-year-old Joey Zanaboni had a once-in-a-lifetime experience last summer. He was the "junior radio voice" at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

The 6th grader at St. Gabriel's School earned a chance to broadcast two games live during last summer's tournament. He won the honor in a national kids'announcer tryout sponsored by Snickers candy bars.

One of his games involved the eventual series winner from Louisville, Ky. The other paired Guam and Canada in an international bracket game.

Joey said, "In the first game, I did color commentary for two or three innings. But, after the adult announcers found out I knew something about baseball, they let me be the lead announcer for the rest of the game."

He got to be the lead announcer for almost all of the second game.

His selection in the tryout competition was unusual. That's because he had no previous radio announcing experience. "I'd done some running play-by-play while I was playing baseball with my friends. But, that was all," he said.

To enter the competition, Joey had to provide a 5-minute tape of a real or imaginary game. He decided to do a make-believe 9th inning between the St. Louis Cardinals and his 5th grade team at St. Gabriel's.

Asked how the imaginary game came out, Joey said, "The Cardinals won." He had Cards closer Jason Isringhausen pitch the 9th in relief of starter Matt Morris.

He used the names of kids from his 5th grade ball team on the tape. The pitcher was teammate Ryan McAnnany. Asked if he used his own name in the make-believe game, Joey said, "No, it would have been too confusing."

Also, he said he performed some "stand-up comedy routines, like Jay Leno," during an enrichment class last year. That was at his Catholic school in south St. Louis County.

Joey in the broadcast booth at Williamsport

The game tape was strong enough to earn Joey the expense-paid trip to Williamsport. His broadcasting debut was on station WRAK in Williamsport. Also, tapes of his broadcasts are now in the Little League World Series media archives.

He said the winning entry was judged 50 per cent on knowledge of baseball, 25 per cent on speaking clarity and 25 per cent on imagination.

Joey taped a permanent record of his broadcasts by downloading them by computer.

(You can hear Joey by going to www.PCT.edu and click on little league archives. PCT is Penn College Tech, a local college. Joey's games were Tuesday, Aug. 20. The Louisville game is listed as Great Lakes vs. Southeast. Guam's game is Pacific vs. Canada. )

Joey and his mother, Ann Zanaboni, flew to Williamsport Aug. 19. He broadcast his games next day and then flew back to St. Louis Aug. 21. He was at home watching on TV when Louisville completed its tournament victory. The U.S. team beat Sendai, Japan, 1-0.

In one preliminary game Joey broadcast, Louisville won, 4-2, over a North Carolina team. But, his other game was a slugfest, with a last minute rally by the winning Guam team.

"Guam was losing, 4-0, in the top of the 6th (or last) inning. But, they scored 12 runs with the help of two home runs. One was a grand-slam," Joey said.

Asked how he rated his broadcasting, Joey said he thought he did pretty well. "One time I said the wrong kid's name. But, that was about the only problem."

With ESPN broadcaster Harold Reynolds

While at the tournament, Joey got to mingle with other adult broadcasters, including Harold Reynolds and Jack Edwards of ESPN-TV.

Joey said he wasn't nervous while broadcasting on radio. But, he admitted he was nervous when interviewed on a St. Louis TV station after winning the Little League competition.

He said he hopes to become a sports broadcaster when he grows up.

While during running play-by-play in his school games, Joey said, "I used to mimic Jack Buck." He said he now models his delivery after Joe Buck and Mike Shannon.

Joey said he needs to get involved in activities that give him more speaking experience. "I'll do plays at school. And, I'd like to do comedy again," he said.

He said he'd like to go to college at UCLA, which has a strong entertainment program. Lots of kids looking for careers in movies and media go there.

Since returning to school, Joey has had a chance to tell about his unusual summer experience. "Most of the other kids told where they went on vacation," he said.