Pitching leads Scott County 12-U all-stars

The Scott County Cal Ripken 12-and-under all-star team made its way to the World Series the old-fashioned way: dominating pitching.

"I think so far we've had the best pitching I've seen," said Patrick Young, one of the coaches for Scott County. "We have two or three kids who are better than any pitchers we've faced."

The Scott County team on Tuesday headed to Van Buren, Ark., for the Cal Ripken World Series for 12-and-under teams playing on 60-foot bases. (Another World Series for teams playing on 70-foot bases is being played in Aberdeen, Md., and includes a team from Sikeston.)

After a banquet tonight featuring speaker Tommy John and fireworks, the Scott County team begins pool play 2:30 p.m. Thursday against Bridgewater, N.J.

The tournament features 10 teams divided into two pools. After pool play, the top three teams from each division move into the elimination bracket.

Scott County carries a 10-0 record and a team earned run average of 1.82 into the tournament.

Most of the pitching has been done by Alan Michael Hess of Bell City. He has an 8-0 record, one save and a 1.80 ERA in 30 innings. He has 51 strikeouts.

Hess usually has been used as the starter for the first three innings in Scott County's playoff run.

Kody Moore of New Hamburg often has been the reliever. He has pitched 17 2/3 innings in eight games with an 0.68 ERA and 37 strikeouts. He is 2-0 with a save.

"Most teams can't go one-two like that," Young said.

And Cal Ripken rules allow a maximum of six innings every two games.

Moore and Hess also are among the batting leaders, along with Jared Yates and Gabe Felter.

Hess leads the team in homers (4) and RBIs (13). He hit a three-run home run that made the difference in a 4-1 win against North Dakota in the regional championship.

Moore leads the team in batting (.643) and runs scored (16). Yates is hitting .516 with 15 runs scored; and Felter is batting .320.

Little Bear Hicks also is among the team's homer and RBI leaders after hitting a three-run homer at the regional, while Dalton Elfrink and Tyler Masters also are hitting better than .300.

The all-star team features players from seven teams in six cities -- Kelso, Benton, New Hamburg, Morley, Bell City and Oran (which has two teams).

"We're fortunate being in a fairly rural area, so the kids know each other," Young said. "They've played against each other, and now the last few years, they've played on the same team with each other."

Young, who along with Terry Elfrink and Darrell Bailey assists manager Jerry Yates, said the team is getting excellent coaching from its manager. Yates, he said, played minor league baseball and also played while in the service.

"He gets the kids fired up, and he's a teacher," Young said. "He's a good baseball man. He knows the ins and outs of baseball, and he knows kids, too. He feels like it's better to tell them the truth, and he'll try to correct their mistakes."

Scott County hasn't made many, especially since a 5-4 win in the state tournament against Mineral Area that Young said was a gut-check for the players.

"They almost lost to a team they were better than," Young said. "They decided then whether they wanted to play baseball or not."

Now, Scott County will step into the great unknown at the World Series.

"You can't really scout the teams," Young said. "You can read about them on the Internet, but we don't really know what to expect.

"Since we're going, we figure we might as well try to win it."