THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409090252
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 27 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
In only its second year, the Virginia Blasters baseball organization surprised its fans and itself by sending two teams to the AAU National Tournaments.
The 10-under team, managed by Vic Wilfore, had the best finish, placing fifth nationally in the AAU tournament in Kansas City, Mo. It compiled a 7-3 record in a field of 28 teams.
``We only had two weeks to put the team together before the state tournament,'' Wilfore said.
The team was organized in March by Wilfore and his coaches, who went on prior knowledge of kids' playing abilities to select the team. Eight of the squad's 14 players are from Chesapeake.
``We got a lot of the kids out of rec league programs that supposedly had better talent than others. We were fortunate to pick the right players.''
The 10-under Blasters played 10 games in six days against teams from Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. The Blasters batted .342 with an on-base percentage of .491 in the tournament.
Brett Vambell, who was named to the All-Tournment team, led the club with a
In order to finance the trip to Missouri, parents held fund-raisers and solicited sponsorships from Chesapeake businesses. The families of the kids picked up the tab for whatever the donations didn't cover.
Although baseball was certainly the first thing on the minds of his players, Wilfore says he stresses good grades (the players have to maintain a 3.0 average in school), fellowship, solid family relationships and learning to play as a team.
``They're playing baseball today, but tomorrow they're going to be dealing with the real world, and they need to know how to handle it,'' Wilfore said.
The 12-under Blasters, one of 44 teams at the national tournament in Burnsville, Minn., won their first game in the preliminaries, 10-2, before losing the next three to fall into the consolation bracket.
The team rebounded, winning six of the next seven games to take the consolation championship and a 15th-place national finish.
``I knew we had a pretty good team coming in, but we wanted to see how we fared nationally,'' said manager Ted Daughtrey. The 12-under Blasters qualified for nationals by winning the state tournament against teams from Richmond and Virginia Beach.
Once in Burnsville, the Blasters were at a decided disadvantage. While their four games in the state championship and a July 4th tournament was the extent of their playing experience, they had to face teams that had up to 75 games under their belts.
``We practiced about three hours a day in July to get ready for nationals, and not one guy complained,'' said Daughtrey. ``Everyone was there on time and did what they were asked.''
Although twelve of Daughtrey's 14 players are from Chesapeake, it was two ``outsiders'' - Denny Self of Portsmouth and Suffolk's Chris Honeycutt - that stepped up and asserted themselves at the nationals.
They also happen to be the two biggest kids on the team, with Self running 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, and Honeycutt bigger than that.
``They're both pitchers, and they're both intimidating for 12-year olds,'' said Daughtrey.
Self, one of 20 players out of nearly 800 named to the All-Tournament team, led the Blasters with a .457 batting average. On the mound, he compiled a 4-1 record with a 1.14 ERA and struck out 40 batters over 21 1/3 innings.
Honeycutt batted .344 and compiled a 2-0 record, with 31 strikeouts in 20 innings, and earned honorable mention honors.
Sean Townsend batted an even .300, and Ronald Mickens led the team with 14 walks and 10 runs scored.
Although the players raised about $5,000 through fund-raisers and contributions from local businesses, Daughtrey estimated that the trip cost an additional $11,000 for air fare and hotel rooms. But in the end, it was worth it.
``It was just a real good experience for the kids to be involved in,'' Daughtrey said. ``We want to expose them to as many different baseball experiences as we can, so down the line, in American Legion or high school ball, they're not intimidated by anything.'' ILLUSTRATION: Virginia Blasters 12-under: Front row: Matt Leake, Matt Ames,
Chris Daughtrey and Adam Smith. Middle row: Sean Townsend, Matt
Fulford, Sean Engen, Mike Nemcosky, Ronald Mickens, Steven Bettis
and Chase Wilson. Back row: Coach Glenn Ames, coach John Bettis,
Denny Self, Chris Honeycutt, Ricky Henderson, coach Micky Nemcosky
and manager Ted Daughtrey.
Virginia Blasters 10-under: Front row: Zack Covington, Kris Wiggins,
Matt Reardon, Scott Sizemore, John Arseneau and Luke Foss. Middle
row: David Didio, Wes Sumrell, Mark Reynolds, Brian Mansfield,
Ressel Cramer, Hunter Wilfore, Brett Vambell and Adam Crawley. Back
row: Coaches Larry Childress, Henry Cuddyer, Vic Wilfore, Steve
Wiggins and Terry Sizemore. Not pictured: Michael Cardwell, coaches
Tom Vambell, Mark Mansfield and Greg Reynolds.
by CNB