It’s been two years worth of feeling like home at the Little League Baseball World Series for ESPN’s Chris McKendry.

Last year, McKendry covered the team from Westport, Connecticut, based out of the town where she lives. This year it’s the Taney Dragons from Philadelphia, where she grew up.

“I’ve been coming four years now and it wouldn’t be the same if it was anywhere but Williamsport,” said McKendry during the annual Williamsport Kiwanis-Ray Keyes Salute to Little League luncheon Thursday at the Genetti Hotel. “You feel it in this town, this history and passion you all have for the game. All values everywhere aren’t the same.”

McKendry said she once approached ESPN about coming here after a quick stop to tape a SportsCenter segment, saying the coverage needed the perspective of a baseball mom, then found out one week before the Series began four years ago she was coming. She’s been back every year since. Her other responsibilities at ESPN include anchoring for weekday SportsCenters and grand slam tennis .

“My boys come here, they sled down the hill and I did, too, surviving it in white jeans,” McKendry said. “We trade pins, they’re just kids who love sports and being with each other. For them, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime.”

The Westport appearance was the first with an extra-special meaning for McKendry, as she and her husband, Eduardo, and her two boys had been involved with the Westport LL for a few years.

“The kids in our town came home and were like rock stars, autographing baseballs, and my husband (a league officer) had to replenish the supply,” said McKendry, who also noted that Westport player Chad Knight had been umpiring her third-grade son’s rec league games this summer.

“This is the first year of kid pitch, and he tried his best but they weren’t strikes. But he was calling them this big,” said McKendry with her arms stretched out. “My husband said, ‘Chad, what are you doing? You can’t do this.’ and he told her it’s Mrs. McKendry’s son and he had to do it. My husband told him no, get (the strike zone) back to where it was.

“But it was great to see the boys embrace all of them,” McKendry said. “It was unique to our family, and now it’s full circle.”

Then came this year as McKendry, who said she had such a full Philadelphia childhood that she “took the SEPTA bus to school,” saw Taney become the city’s first LLWS participant. The appearance of Mo’ne Davis had extra meaning for McKendry, who grew up playing multiple sports with her brothers before attending Drexel on a tennis scholarship. She said she learned tennis on the hard courts of Philadelphia, where Davis learned baseball on the city’s diamonds.

“To see Mo’ne up there, a girl playing so well and being accepted so easily and boys and girls playing together, it says a lot about parents teaching respect for differences and equality,” McKendry said. “I’m proud of how she handles herself, and how she represents her hometown.”