Diggin’ in

Kenny Jackson had a vision when he started the Culpeper Cardinals travel team. What happened after that seemed more like a dream.

In just their second full season together, the Cardinals won the USSSA 13 and under AA State Baseball Tournament.

“We started this team thinking we were going to take our licks,” said Jackson, Culpeper’s head coach. “We were going to become better ball players and were going to provide better ball players for the high schools — that was the idea.”

The Cardinal players had a different idea.

‘There it was’
As a 12 and under squad, Culpeper finished first in the class AA Piedmont League regular season and placed second in the tournament. The team finished fifth in the state back in the spring.

“We started our 12U season and low and behold, there it was,” Jackson said. “We were smacking the ball, we were hitting home runs, we were fielding like we’ve been together forever. It surprised all of us, surprised all the coaches, it really did.”

The answer for such an unexpected start was clear to the head coach.

“These kids have the biggest heart of any team I have ever coached in my life,” Jackson said. “I’ve coached a lot in little league, coached a lot all around and these kids have been with me since they were a 12U team so it’s their second season together.”

Back in August, the team moved from 12U to 13U, which involves more than just a birthday.

Twelve and under teams play on a field that is 50 feet from the pitching mound to home plate, and 70 feet between the bases. Thirteen and under play on a full-size field that’s 60 feet from mound to home and 90 feet from base to base.

“When you come from a 12U to a 13U, everything gets wiped clean for every team,” Jackson said. “Because every team has got to make the same jump.”

The Cardinals’ leap surprised the coaching staff once again.

“They made the change so quickly and so fluidly it was like there was no step between 70 and 90 feet,” Jackson said. “It became second nature — they were there and ready to go.”

‘That little extra’
There were many roadblocks between the Cardinals and their first state title.

“We were a little hurt here and there,” Jackson said. “With a broken thumb here and some pulled muscles here and there, so we were leery about our pitching going into it.”

This being the first 13U tournament for the Cardinals, the goal was just to compete.

“What we expected again was we were going to hang in there with these teams and do well,” Jackson said. “But we didn’t know where we’d go and we really just flew through it.”

Culpeper had five pitchers on its roster for the tournament in Hampton, and it took five games to win a title.

“We told them very simply, this is the time to dig in, reach back, and give it everything you’ve got,” Jackson said. “We knew we were coming in a little bit short with pitching but they all knew they had to go that little extra.”

Nate Yates put the rest of the pitching staff at ease, firing a six-hit complete game to beat the Greenbriar Panthers 8-2 in Game 1 of pool play Saturday.

“I think it was pretty important because that means we saved more pitchers for the other games,” Yates said. “We only had to use me for one game and we had more pitching rotation for the rest of the tournament.”

In Game 2, Culpeper beat the Hampton Renegades 8-2 to capture the No. 1 seed going into the single-elimination tournament on Sunday.

Day two saw a second victory over the Renegades, this time 5-3. The Cardinals then blasted the Virginia Blasters 8-0 to reach the state finals.

‘We can beat anybody’
The Virginia Beach Tribe came into the Finals the same way as the Cardinals: Undefeated through four games. But the Tribe had something Culpeper didn’t, and something the Cardinals had never faced throughout the young program.

“That kid they put on the mound was throwing,” Jackson said. “He was throwing a good 75 miles an hour. He was throwing hard, real hard, harder than we’d seen all season.”

Which gave the Tribe unmeasured confidence against the first-year 13U team.

“But no big surprise, they got out there, they took a look around, thought that pitcher was unhittable,” Jackson said. “They played their guys shallow, and our guys, they just went out there and smacked the ball.”

The Cardinals weren’t intimidated by the flame thrower

“We were really confident going into this,” Jacob Jackson said “They were a big team, they were big kids but we knew we were better, we were top hand.”

And the players knew how to approach the game at the plate.

“Quicker bat, because most pitchers we have seen haven’t thrown as hard as he has,” catcher Austin Huff said. “He was their top pitcher so we just had to adjust to it.”

This time the Culpeper players surprised the opposing team’s coaches.

“The other coach came to me afterwards and said ‘We didn’t think you’d be able to hit this boy,’” Kenny Jackson said. “‘Nobody has ever hit this kid, we got to where we are throwing this kid in our championship game and never being touched.’”

The Cardinals ended up winning 8-2, capturing their first state championship in their first season as a 13U team and making a statement in the process.

“Just saying that we’re the state champs,” Huff said. “And we can beat anybody in Virginia.”

‘Twelve best friends’
As with any travel team, there is plenty of off-the-field activity, giving the players a unique experience.

“I’ll tell you right now, these kids, these parents and these coaches are the best that I’ve ever had,” Kenny Jackson said. “It’s like one big family. We go down there as a group together, we stay in the same hotel, we go out to dinner together and we have a good time.”

The players have baseball on the brain when they’re off the field as well, spending their time on a Playstation playing Major League Baseball.

There are some differences of opinion who the best player is in the virtual world.

“Me,” Yates said.

“No,” Brock Smith said. “Austin might be.”

Of course, the game isn’t the only fun to be had.

“We sometimes run around the hotel if we don’t get caught,” Smith said. “We also hang out in the lobby and just talk baseball.”

The players have spent plenty of time getting to know one another on the long trips.

“The kids are best friends,” Kenny Jackson said. “There are 12 best friends on this team and that’s the way it is on and off the field.”

One memory that stands out to the team is a trip to Cooperstown, where a national tournament was held.

The Cardinals ended up 23rd out of 104 teams at the end of the week-long competition.

“It was just awesome playing one of the biggest tournaments in the world,” Smith said. “It was just cool to play where baseball was born.”

‘More’
With the unexpected success, Coach Jackson now has big plans for the program.

“This team will be together for as long as they can possibly be together for,” Jackson said. “As long as 16, 17U and then turning this team into a showcase team — a team that travels strictly to go out and have colleges come look at them.”

When that happens, the Cardinals will already have an advantage compared to other showcase squads.

“A lot of those showcase teams are not teams, they’re not cohesive,” Jackson said. “They haven’t played together. They’ll pull a guy in from here and a guy in from there and they haven’t really played together before.

“I think that’s going to benefit these kids. They’ll have been playing together for five years.”

Until then, travel baseball is the place to be, a place that everyone involved knows will benefit them in the long run.

“This is huge for them,” Jackson said. “This is the outlet; this is competitive baseball. Real baseball played by Major League Baseball rules with the exception of some small things that obviously you have to change for them.”

It also gives the players a pace they’ll see in the near future.

“It’s like the same tempo as high school and it teaches you more than regular little league does,” Huff said. “Because this is a group of guys that always wants to come out and play ball, where as the little league there are a few people that really don’t want to play.”

The Cardinals will have players on each side of the county, with six going to Eastern View and four going to Culpeper High. Another player is home schooled, and Smith will end up at Liberty, where he’ll look forward to facing his old teammates.

“I’m just going to do whatever I can to beat them,” Smith said.

In the meantime, the Cardinals’ goal is clear.

“We want to win more,” Yates said. “We’re doing pretty good right now.”