Second baseman Nyjal Johnson packed his bags earlier this week — technically, he and his cousin did the packing — in preparation for a trip to the World Series.
He is one of 12 members of the Starkville Longhorns 8-and-under squad that qualified for the annual tournament, which will be in Southaven this year. Teams are scheduled to report today and to play their first games Saturday.
“I”m excited because my oldest brother Craig”s team didn”t win, and we might be the first team to win,” Johnson said. His older brother also gave him some advice: Keep your eye on the ball, don”t flinch when you get hit by a pitcher, and, most importantly, don”t pout.
Teammate Riley Dawkins is just as excited.
“I love to play baseball and I”m ready to beat some teams,” said Dawkins, who plays first base.
This week will mark the first time this group has played in the World Series, but not the first time it has qualified. A year ago, Starkville finished second in the state. Head coach Keith Lawrence didn”t think his team, whose 2010 finish made it the second-best 8-U team in Mississippi, was ready to complete against its peers from Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Louisiana. His guys were good, he remembered thinking this week, but they weren”t ready, and he had to be honest to himself, his players, and their parents and let them know.
Three years earlier, his older son, Keith Jr., played on a team that placed second in the state then played at the World Series.
“We went to the World Series in Alabama and faced superior teams,” he said. “We even went to the consolation bracket and still got beat. We went over there and wasn”t really prepared.”
Some parents agreed, and others didn”t. Still, others relied on him to make the decision.
It wasn”t a shot against the players, just the truth. They had not played the game long enough to match up against kids a year older, kids whose skills marked where Starkville needed to be, not where they were. So Starkville went back to work, played in multiple tournaments and games, and improved. The team”s growth was so much that Lawrence is confident his team is ready to compete this year.
“We don”t miss pop ups,” Lawrence said. “I”ve never seen 8-year-old kids make routine plays, hit the ball to the outfield. Routine pop ups, they don”t miss.”
His players have closed the gap, Lawrence said. In surrounding states, Little League Baseball play starts at age 5, and World Series play starts at age 6. Here, boys start playing baseball at age 7, so the Starkville coaches knew they had to get players caught up skill-wise, players had to compete in travel ball, parents had to commit the time, and coaches had to work with the players on fundamentals.
So far, so good.
“I”ve met a lot of new friends, and we get to travel everywhere,” Johnson said.
Next stop, Southaven.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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