On July 23, our local Junior League (a division of Little League) all-star team left their home field for their first-ever trip to the West Virginia state tournament. It was with a feeling of nervous anticipation that they began their once-in-a-lifetime journey.

In South Berkeley County, WV, the local Little League was chartered in 1980. Since that time, no baseball team had advanced to a state tournament. Softball teams had advanced, but never a baseball team, and NO team had ever won a state championship.

The lack of respect from our competitors soon became evident, when at the reception for the teams, a competitor asked "Where's Jefferson?" Jefferson County is the dominant league in our area and routinely sends multiple teams to state tournaments. This would only serve as motivation for our underdog team.

As game time approached, one of our key players, Chris, arrived late, having attended the funeral of his father just the day before. How "ready" to play was this young man? He wanted to be there and his father would have wanted him to be there. As irony would have it, he was the first batter of the game. It took only a few pitches to answer the question of his desire to play.

Chris led off the game with a hit. No one would ever question his heart or motivation again. He loomed large in the face of the competition. Before the game was over, he would be on base three times and throw a runner out at first base from right field.

The end result was a victory for our young team. They had overcome the nervousness of playing in that first State tournament game six hours from home and put together a victory in a game shortened by a thunderstorm. An important note: the key to tournament play is to stay in the winner's bracket -- in other words, just win. A loss would mean playing every day for a week in the late July heat.

The next day, Sunday, brought a game against one of the tournament favorites. The opposing team, from Fairmont, WV, had played at 10:00 am that morning in a game that was rained out the evening before, then had until 7:30 pm to rest for the regularly scheduled game. Our pitching ace, Mike, would be on the mound for the game. He had pitched championship games in the previous two tournaments South Berkeley had played in, so he was accustomed to performing under pressure.

This game was no different, as Mike's pitching made him one of the stars of the game. We were told before the tournament that home runs were not often hit on this field. That would not be the case for the team from South Berkeley in this tournament. Our center fielder, Brandon, hit two that night, and the left fielder, Trey, hit his first-ever home run. The victory was relatively easy, but we were aided by the opponents' underestimation of how good our team really was.

After this game, there was turmoil among the team. Fourteen teenage boys were forced to remain at the hotel for the entire day and they were getting tired of each other. There were little spats and finger pointing and accusations among the players.

Monday was the winner's bracket championship and the winner of this day's game would have two days off. The opponent, Clay County, was a team very similar to our own. They were scrappy and small in stature, capable of doing what it took to win. Throughout the first two days of the tournament, our players and the players from Clay County had developed friendships. It was good to see the two teams talking and laughing with one another. That's what Little League is all about.

After an afternoon of go-kart racing, our players were relaxed and ready to play. Tonight's pitcher would be Chris, the player with the biggest heart on the team. His pitching was nothing short of spectacular and he had a home run to go along with his pitching effort. The tournament underdog, South Berkeley, was now in the driver's seat and had two days off to rest and recuperate.

These two days off were relaxing for the players, on one of those days, a pontoon boat was rented and they spent the day swimming in a beautiful blue lake near town, and the other day, they were treated to a movie.

Thursday arrived, and the championship game was played at 6:00 pm - the opponent was our friends from Clay County again. Our team's pitching ace, Mike, was on the mound again. After a bad start for both teams, the first inning ended with the score 3-3. It was the South Berkeley team that produced under pressure again as they settled down and played a solid game the rest of the way in a real team effort. South Berkeley had won the West Virginia State Junior League championship!

In the spirit of Little League baseball and friendly competition, our league bought pizza for both teams after the championship game. Since the two teams had already established friendships, both teams were at ease with each other after the game. The respect each team had for the other was evident.

For the first time ever, a South Berkeley Little League team was bringing home a state championship flag. The underdogs from the east were state champions. The story did not end here, however. By winning the state tournament, they had advanced to the next level -- the divisional tournament.

The morning after winning the state tournament, we were packed, loaded up and bound for Florence, South Carolina - eight hours away. We arrived that evening in heat that exceeded one hundred degrees - an omen of what was to come.

The next afternoon, we played the North Carolina State Champions - on the field, the temperature was in excess of 115 degrees. In that morning's game, players had literally passed out on the field from the heat. The exhaustion of nine days on the road combined with the miserable playing conditions to make this a game shortened by the ten-run mercy rule.

However, the spirit of the team was not broken. At 6:30 pm that evening, they had to come back and play the Virginia State Champions. The loser of this game would be eliminated from the tournament. At this point, the heart and drive of one young man on the team became evident. The team's pitching ace, Mike, who had just pitched a complete game less than 72 hours before, came back and did it again. We won this game in one of the more dramatic turnarounds from one game to the next that you'll ever see.

After the game, local tournament officials made comments about how dramatic the change was in our team from afternoon to evening. Our secret? We gave them 45 minutes in a pool, fed them Kentucky Fried Chicken and returned them to the stadium for the next game. I don't know if the chicken made a difference or not, but that was what our players wanted.

The next morning at 10:00 am, again in 100 plus degree heat and high humidity, we faced the South Carolina State Champions (this team eventually won the tournament). After two innings, players began having problems with the heat. By game's end, at least five players had to come out of the game due to heat exhaustion. There were several delays in the game, while water was taken to the players on the field. The South Carolina team won. We quickly packed up and headed for home.

Had you asked these fourteen ball players a few days earlier, each of them would have said they would like to go home. Some of these young men had never been away from home and their parents for this long, but that "homesickness" did not outweigh their desire to perform as a team and to reach their team goal - a championship. The strength of this team was evident in the fact that, whenever there was adversity - be it inner turmoil, natural conditions, even death - they pulled together and got the job done.

For fourteen young men of age 13 and 14 (as well as myself), those ten days in late July and early August of 1999 will be days that will be remembered for a lifetime. The lessons learned are immeasurable. The strength of a team is far, far greater than the individual strengths of its members. The proof of this is found on the playing field as well as in the family and the office.

Congratulations to the 1999 West Virginia state Junior League champions!

At age thirteen, boys move from the Little League field to a bigger field. By bigger, I mean the players go from playing on a field where the bases are sixty feet apart and the pitcher's mound is forty six feet from home plate to a field where the bases are ninety feet apart and the pitcher's mound is sixty feet, six inches from home plate. They go from "Little Leaguers" to "Major Leaguers".

The thirteen year-olds play with the fourteen year-olds, who have already played one season on the bigger field. The thirteen year-old "rookies" can expect to sit on the bench behind the older, more experienced players, as well as take their lumps from them.

The team I coached was all thirteen year-old players - thirteen of them. It's a good thing I have no fear of the number thirteen! Needless to say, our "all rookie" team took some beatings. However, we did inflict some damage, as we won a third of our games - about what the coaching staff expected at the beginning of the season.

In the second game of the season, against a predominately fourteen year-old team, we trailed by three runs in the last half of the last inning. We loaded the bases and scored a run, which meant that my son would bat with one out and the bases loaded. Before he went out to bat, he looked at me and said "Good thing there's no pressure." To him, there must have been no pressure, because he promptly hit the ball to deep center field and three runs scored -- we won the game by one run. This was, at that point, THE most exciting Little League game I've had the pleasure to be involved in - but that was only the second game of the season.

Several weeks later, in the fifteenth game of the season, at which time we had won a total of three games, we were playing the defending league champions. This team had lost only three games in almost two full seasons, including an 18-3 thrashing of our team three days before. Because they had no problem hitting our other two top pitchers, my son pitched in this game. Since he doesn't throw as hard as some of the other pitchers do, and since he can throw every pitch at a different speed from the previous one, my son was quite effective against the defending champions. After seven innings, the score was tied at four runs apiece. The other team batted in the top of the eighth inning and scored no runs. Next it was our turn.

At this point, as a coach, you have to ask your players "How bad do you want to win this game?" Despite the incorrect grammar, the answer to that question was "Pretty bad." The first two batters walked and the other team changed pitchers. The new pitcher threw one pitch over the catcher's head - and our runner on second base headed for third. When the catcher found the ball, he threw it over the third baseman's head and our runner came home to score. Our players were completely out of control at this point, and the team's manager had the water cooler dumped over his head!

At the end of the season, we had won six of eighteen games. We won four games we should have won, and two games we shouldn't have won. We made some games close that should not have been and we "stunk up" the place a few times. The most important things to remember, though, is that the players are only thirteen or fourteen years old, they learned a lot about baseball AND they had fun.

By late June, it is all-star season. Yes, my son is on the all-star team for the fourth consecutive year. He would not be a "big dog" on this team, though - and this is a change for him, since he had not sat on the bench during a game for three years.

In the first tournament this all-star team played in, they lost no games - in fact they didn't even have a close game in the entire tournament. This allowed them to advance to the next level of play - the district tournament. In the district tournament, they also easily won all their games to advance to the next step - the state tournament.

I have NEVER experienced a state Little League tournament in my life! Before I get to do this with my son's team, our local league hosted a state tournament for nine and ten year-old softball teams - all girls. As I write this, the state softball tournament is in its fourth day.

What are my impressions of a state tournament? I think it's great! Teams from all over the state of West Virginia came to play in this tournament representing vastly different areas of the state. You could see the pride in the eyes of the parents of each player, as well as the players themselves.

These young ladies have played their hearts out! Two teams have already headed back home, as they were eliminated, but all the teams have given us a brilliant exhibition of softball played by girls of age nine and ten.

The last game I saw was a "classic" game that was tied several times, including at the end of the last (sixth) inning. In the first extra inning, the visiting team scored four runs and eventually won. It was a shame that one of these teams had to lose, because they both were deserving of a win.

It was this game, more than anything else, that gave me a new perspective on Little League as well as a possible vision of my future with Little League. This state tournament game was the pinnacle - the goal of every coach, manager, player, etc. This is what hard work and dedication will give you.

The other, more personal point of perspective -- in just four years, my daughter will be the same age as these girls who played in this state tournament. Where will I be? In my second "incarnation" with Little League, I'll be involved in softball!

For now, though, I'm content where I am - headed for a state championship tournament with my son's team - and of course, with the entire family along for support!

On a special note, I'd like to thank the parents, coaches, players and everyone who participated in the 1999 West Virginia state 9-10 year old softball tournament for a great tournament and a great experience for all!