The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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  • Misty Watson/ The Daily Citizen Jaida Walston runs in to make a catch Tuesday in a Whitfield All-Stars softball practice at Valley Point Middle School. The 12-and-under team will open its bid for a Dixie World Series championship starting this weekend.

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July 27, 2010

The stars lining up

Whitfield squad jells at right time

By Chris Whitfield chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com

Whitfield County All-Star shortstop Cricket Wyatt figured her team had a pretty good shot of bringing home a state title when the 12-and-under team won its first game in the state tournament 21-0. Putting together a blowout like that in an elite tournament is usually a sign of better things to come.

Since then, things have just gotten better and better for the All-Stars. Against the state’s best, the  Whitfield All-Stars — sixth and seventh graders — were a perfect 5-0, winning the state title in Seminole County, which is just a ground-rule double from the Florida line. Now, it is on to Augusta’s Patriot’s Park for this weekend’s Dixie World Series, taking on champions from 11 other states across the Southeast.

“That first game was a good sign,” said Wyatt, who also sees time on the mound and behind the plate. “I thought we had a pretty good team going into that tournament, but you never know. I knew of a lot of the girls that are on the team, but I didn’t know them very well.”

Unlike the rest of the teams in the state tournament and even in this weekend’s World Series, the Whitfield squad is a true all-star team made up of players from the Whitfield County Parks and Recreation Department’s Ponytail League. The team was selected by the league’s coaches at the end of the season.

“I didn’t know how they would all come together, but it has been amazing,” said coach Sonya Covington.

“They came into this thing ready to play, and they came to win. They blended well from the beginning and came together very quickly.”

Covington coaches the team with her husband, Russ Covington, and with assistant coaches David Elrod and Jennifer Green. Every area of the county is represented with a roster of 12 players.

Pitching has been the key for the team, along with solid defense and some timely hitting. Sydney Covington, with an array of six pitches and a rising fastball topping out at 57, leads the staff with Wyatt and Kayla Bearden rounding out the three-man rotation. Tournament rules limit pitchers to two innings per each six-inning game. If a pitcher goes longer than two innings, she must sit out the next game. So having three quality pitchers has been a huge advantage.

“Pitching and catching are the main thing you have to have at this age,” Sonya Covington said. “Combined with that, they hit the ball very well. Even when they got down a couple of times, it amazes me that they don’t quit. I didn’t even really sweat anything. They were ready to win.”

It is that desire to win and the easy meshing of the team that has most impressed Covington. With so many different players from different schools and with different abilities, combining those things into a team is usually the hardest part of coaching all-star teams.

To have it happen so quickly has been a blessing, Covington said.

“When we first came out here to practice, I was concerned about them playing together,” she said. “They have never been on the same team like a lot of these travel teams. They have adjusted well, and that is the key.”

While it is the pitching that carries the team, Covington has been even more surprised and impressed with the hitting. Covington said hitting in the league during the season was noticeably behind the pitchers.

“We have done very well on our hitting — better than I expected,” she said. “I was afraid that was going to be our weak spot.”

From the first day of practice, the Sydney Covington said she knew the team was something special.

“It was like we had been playing together all summer,” said the seventh grader at Valley Point Middle School. “We stay up and stay on the fence cheering for each other no matter if we are winning or trying to come from behind.”

First baseman Emily Beck agreed.

“It just took one or two practices, and we were all on the same page,” she said. “We all have good attitudes and really like playing together.”

Other members of the team are Rana Mashburn, Olivia Elrod, Melissa Cabrera, Faith Burt, Jaida Walston, Kaleigh Maciejewski, Isabel Salinas and Alex Middlebrooks.

The team will leave on Friday and take part in opening ceremonies before beginning tournament play on Saturday. The tournament finals are scheduled next Wednesday.

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