Fun-damental ball: Cape 10-U All-Stars pack 11-0 record for national tourney

Fundamentals and fun are the cornerstones of youth baseball.

And when players can execute the former in a winning effort, that -- to use the words of Kenny Urhahn -- is a bonus.

Urhahn coaches the Cape Girardeau Cal Ripken League 10-year-old baseball team, which will be leaving Thursday for the World Series in Vincennes, Ind.

Cape Girardeau will take an 11-0 record into Saturday's 1 p.m. game against Linn, Ore. The 10-team double-elimination event runs through Aug. 18.

Urhahn said the team already has overachieved, noting that organizers on the state level didn't expect Cape to move on to the regional round.

Chase Hagerty fielded a ground ball at the Cape Girardeau Cal Ripken 10-U all-stars' practice Monday at Arena Park.

But Cape Girardeau has exhibited the fundamentals and different strengths in different games.

"Whatever it seems is needed at the time," Urhahn said.

Mostly, it's fundamentals.

"We're mainly setting them up for when they're older," said Urhahn, who coaches the team with Mike Himmelberg and John Harding. "We try to keep it as simple as we can.

"They're 10 years old, and when the game is over, they want to know where the nearest water park is. They're kids at heart."

Kendall Young watched pitches while on deck during practice with the Cape Cal Ripken 10-U All-Stars on Monday, August 6, 2007, at Arena Park. (Kit Doyle)

The water park in Scottsbluff, Neb., site of the Midwest Plains Regional tournament, was a popular stop for the Cape Girardeau team, as was the go-cart track and miniature golf.

And the team's four wins there last week helped make for a more enjoyable ride for more than 900 miles back to Cape Girardeau.

"By the time we made it back to Kansas City, I had nothing to do," shortstop Matt Chism said.

This week, Cape will travel by chartered bus at the expense of Cal Ripken Baseball, which is affiliated with Babe Ruth Baseball.

Cape Girardeau earned its trip with a 3-0 victory against Minnesota, a team it had beaten 4-2 earlier in the event.

"We were the only team that scored on them," Urhahn said.

Cape showed Minnesota some of its own medicine with a two-hit shutout in the final from Adam Pope.

He was backed by a defensive play on a basehit to center field, which was fielded by J.D. Harding, who threw to Chism, who threw to catcher Cameron Grueninger.

"He blocked the plate and tagged him out," Chism said of Grueninger.

"They would've scored," Harding said.

Instead, the inning ended on a high note for Cape.

"It really took the air out of the sales," Urhahn said. "You can practice all you want on cutoffs and relays, but if they can execute it, that's a bonus. It really makes you proud."

Cape's team of 12 players off the six teams that played Cal Ripken ball in the city's league at Arena Park is pulling together at a faster pace than some of its opposition.

A team from Kansas that Cape beat at the regional came in 38-3.

"We had to kind of work on things on the fly as they developed during games, but these kids adapted," Urhahn said. "One team was running on us more than we expected, so in practice before the next game, we worked on that and got it cut off.

"These kids have baseball savvy. They watch baseball on TV and they learn. If you show them something a time or two, they work on it and they get it."

Urhahn got an idea how well the group would play last year when as 9-year olds they played in the district tourney for 10-and-under.

"We expected to be fodder, and we took third," Urhahn said.

Doing the unexpected has been a habit for this group, which may bode well this week in Indiana.