Revenge, a dogpile and a state championship.
There’s not many better ways to end a baseball tournament, and the Starkville Little League baseball team accomplished all three on Thursday by knocking off Clinton 2-0 for the state crown, the team’s fifth championship in the last six years.
The memory of falling to Clinton in the title game a year ago melted away as the 11-and-12-year-olds leaped into a pile on the field to celebrate their championship and their booked ticket to the Little League Southwest Region Tournament in Waco, Texas.
In a quintessential pitchers duel, Starkville pitcher Chaney Morgan threw 5 ⅔ innings of shutout, no-hit ball and finished with 13 strikeouts while Clinton threw a one-hitter. Penn Patrick, who also pitched the game’s final out, connected on a single for Starkville in the bottom of the third inning followed by a Grady Aldridge walk. A Clinton throwing error allowed Patrick to scurry home for Starkville’s second run of the contest. The team’s first run came in the first inning. Tays LeGrand was walked and advanced to second base on a passed ball. LeGrand seized an opening by a throwing error from Clinton’s catcher to make it across home plate for the game’s first score.
“It was fun,” said Starkville head coach Jase Abraham. “Clinton is very, very good. They’re always strong. They won the state tournament last year. They had a guy on the mound that was really, really dialed in and was throwing really well, and you knew from the first pitch that it was going to be a tough ball game. Our guys dialed in. Our pitcher responded and we found a way. It was exciting. It was exciting for the boys. A handful of them had been playing together since they were 7-years-old. Now you look up and they’re 12. It’s just really special because they are growing, and as they are growing up, life takes them in different ways. Families have built relationships and friendships, so it was exciting to see them achieve something like that and to be able to afford themselves the opportunity to go compete and represent Mississippi.”
Along with its fifth title, Starkville is headed to Waco for the fifth time in six years, a bracket it has never won. Joining Starkville in the Southwest Regional are teams from Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas East and Texas West. Starkville opens bracket play at 4 p.m. July 31 against Louisiana and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. The regional title game will be played at 6 p.m. Aug. 5 and will be broadcast on ESPN. The winner of the double-elimination regional advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Abraham, who is in his first year of leading Starkville, said his team is thrilled to go to Texas for a chance to get into the World Series.
“Oh, they’re so excited,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re more excited about getting to play baseball or miss school, but either way, they’re very, very excited. And I know that we’ve got an excited group of parents for them.”
Abraham describes his team as a “selfless” unit that plays together and plays to win. He said he knows of Starkville’s history of struggling in Waco, but believes this year’s squad is primed to make some noise.
“They’ve only played a few games together, so no doubt that we’ll get tested out in Waco playing a really good Louisiana team,” he said. “Louisiana is always very, very strong, always very, very good. … Everybody is willing to play any position they’re asked to play, willing to hit wherever they’re asked to hit. All just team guys. As cliche as it sounds, they’re really just a gritty group of boys that really compete. … Most teams are bigger than us, but the kids, they just compete and they just try to find a way. And it’s really just fun to watch them.”
The only Mississippi team to make it to the Little League World Series was Hattiesburg’s Hub City Little League in 1977. As his team tries to be the first in 48 years to make it to Williamsport, he said the support surrounding their success has been phenomenal. It’s what you’d expect in a baseball-crazed town.
“I think the cool part about Starkville, obviously it’s a small town, but it’s an SEC town, and I think the support that Starkville has for the university and Mississippi State embodies the excitement for the boys,” Abraham explained. “Mississippi State is obviously a proud SEC school with a proud history in baseball. Our boys have grown up watching Mississippi State baseball and a lot of them watch those guys whether or not those State guys realize it or not. These kids are watching everything that they do, and I think that the support that the community shows towards baseball, it’s been just so exciting since we won the state tournament. The number of texts and phone calls I’ve gotten from people who are living out near Waco that say they’re going to come watch the boys. I think that it’s just part of that tight-knit community we have here in baseball, at any level. It seems to really bring the community even more together, and it’s been really cool to see everybody support the boys.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
