STARKVILLE — Tom and Russ McReynolds aren’t looking for world dominance just yet.
For now, state dominance will do just fine.
As coaches for Starkville’s Little League All-Star teams, the brothers are helping put the Golden Triangle on the national map.
“Tom formed the Starkville Little League in 2009 when his older son (John) was coming through,” Russ McReynolds said. “They were beat out in a tournament in Meridian. Nobody picked it up, so the charter expired. When his twin sons (Will and Harris McReynolds) came through three years ago, he got the league started again.
“(In 2015), Tom’s team won district and then beat Biloxi in a best-of-three to win the state. Biloxi had been the Mississippi representative for a while, and now they don’t even have a team, so it’s neat that Starkville has emerged as the team representing the state each year. That is what Tom envisioned happening, and it is now taking place.”
The Russ McReynolds-coached 11- to 12-year-old All-Stars will begin play Thursday in the Southwest Regional in Waco, Texas. Starkville will face McAllister Park National (San Antonio, Texas West) at 1 p.m. on the Longhorn Network. The team leaves for the tournament Tuesday.
The Tom McReynolds-coached Starkville Intermediate (13-year-old) All-Stars went 2-2 at the Southwest Regional in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was the first year of the Little League 50/70 Intermediate League, where players transition to high school baseball with 50 feet distance from home plate to the pitcher’s mound and 70 feet between bases.
“We were fortunate we had a lot of guys from the team in Waco play on this year’s team in Grand Junction,” Tom McReynolds said. “These guys are playing on travel ball teams and are beginning their junior high baseball experiences. You can see it pay off. We competed well and did a good job of representing the area. We had some injuries, so we weren’t really at our best.
“But I thought we competed really well. (Of the seven teams in the tournament), we were one of two teams not to get run-ruled.”
The 11- to 12-year-old All-Stars beat Brookhaven twice and Jones County once in Hattiesburg to win the state tournament last week. All three victories came by the run rule.
Brennon Wright, Ethan Pulliam, Jett Joiner, and Cy Hallberg led the offense. Wright and Pulliam are the team’s top two pitchers.
The Golden Triangle district includes Clay, Oktibbeha, and Winston counties. All 11 players are 12 years old. Eight are from Oktibbeha County. Three are from Winston County.
“For the last four or five years we have been coaching several of these kids,” Russ McReynolds said. “I like this group. They are really growing on me. We are going out there to compete hard. We have been talking about staying focused. We had three easy games in the state tournament, and that’s not going to be the case here. The competition is going to be vastly different.
“The biggest thing we have talked about with the kids is staying in the moment and not being wowed by everything.”
The five regional winners will join five international teams for the Little League World Series on Aug. 17-27 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“It is exciting to see the league continue to grow and to continue to have success,” Tom McReynolds said. “It’s good for Starkville to be competing on the national stage like that. A lot of time and effort has been put in. It’s just a great opportunity to the kids to have more experiences playing the game. Next year, we want to pass the torch onto someone else and keep things going. One year, Starkville is going win this thing and get to Williamsport.”
The 13-year-old All-Stars beat the host squad and New Mexico. Colt Gonzalez hit a home run against New Mexico. Porter Skelton and Hayes Davis pitched in that game. Koby Livingston pitched the final game — a 10-3 loss to Texas East.
Harris McReynolds, Colby Allen, and Aiden Fancher were the regular pitchers for the squad, but each one was unavailable to pitch in the tournament.
“We had a really great group of parents,” Tom McReynolds said. “That is how something like this works. A lot of them had gone to Waco and saw what a great experience it was. They wanted to experience the same thing in Colorado. It was two of the best-run tournaments I have been associated with.”
While Starkville is set for its third-straight 11- to 12-year-old regional appearance, no player from last year’s team returns, so this will be a new experience for the entire roster.
“From an experience standpoint, we don’t have a lot of it,” Russ McReynolds said. “We have talked about being in the spotlight. Being on TV is a big deal. It’s going to be a challenge to control our emotions. My son (Mac) is the only one who went to the tournament last year, and he went as a spectator.”
The Starkville Little League had 26 players in the regular season. Many players also participate in Dizzy Dean baseball. For some of the Intermediate players, the experience provided an opportunity to keep playing after the junior high baseball season.
“Hopefully we can keep things going,” Tom McReynolds said. “The charter expired last time because nobody was really interesting in helping continue the league. Hopefully we can have a plan to keep things going.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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