WILLIAMSBURG— The Williamsburg 11U All-Stars are headed to the series — The Cal Ripken World Series in Florence, Alabama.
Head Coach Randy Henry explained the format of all-star baseball.
“8U is where the official all-star trail begins. What that all-star trail looks like is a district tournament, which is usually the second or third week in June, and you either win or you go home. There’s a lot of pressure, it’s quick. If you win your district, then you go to the state tournament and if you win that, you go to the southeast regional tournament,” Henry said.
The boys, who have been playing together since they were eight, have won the district title for the past four seasons, the state title in 9U, 10U, and 11U, but have never cracked the bracket for the southeast regional.
“We’re going up against teams in the southeast regional from Tennessee, Florida, and North Carolina. Especially the teams from Florida, they’ve had an opportunity to play many more games than we have. We’ve always been behind the curve, but every year we get a little bit better, and this year we finally broke through,” Henry said.
Henry’s team was the runner-up in this season’s southeast regional tournament, which earned it an automatic berth to the World Series.
“After we lost the championship game, we thought it was just the winner that goes to the World Series. They put all the teams on the foul line and the tournament director said that both teams played well and had automatically qualified to the World Series. The boys had no idea, I had no idea, and their jaws just dropped to the ground when they heard that,” Henry recalled.
The team will check in on July 31 in Alabama and baseball activities will kick off on Friday. The team will get the opportunity to participate in a media day, where players will be interviewed, take pictures and more. The group will also play an exhibition game to get the nerves out before pool play begins on Sunday.
Ahead of the competition, Henry has been explaining what this opportunity means.
“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime type of deal. There are more kids that can say that they’ve been to Cooperstown as a 12U team than there are kids who can say that they played in the Cal Ripken World Series. It’s such an emotional thing,” Henry said.
After pool play wraps up on Thursday, the series will begin a single-elimination format that leads up to the championship game on Aug. 9.
“We’re taking it one game at a time, but if we win the whole thing, it would be incredible, for lack of a better word. We have the potential to do that, that’s the scary thing. The tournament director of the southeast region recently shared with me that during the last five years, the World Series winner has come from the southeast region. It’s a lot of pressure, but we’re ready,” Henry said.
Overall, Henry is proud of his group for making it as far as they have this season.
“It’s so much work that goes into this. They will have these memories as they get older and maybe they will want to coach one day and do the same with their own kids. That’s the best part about all of this,” Henry said.
To follow the team on its World Series run, visit Williamsburg 11U All Stars on the GameChangers app.