After falling just shy of a state title last season, the Owensboro Southern 12u Little League All-Stars are back at it this summer starting Saturday when they begin their journey against a familiar foe.
In 2021 the Owensboro Southern 11u Little League All-Stars were the district runner-up to secure their spot in the state tournament, before ultimately falling short against Lexington Eastern. A year later they were able to defeat Bowling Green East 10-0 in the district title game, despite losing to them 11-8 in pool play.
Head Coach Todd Lillpop has been proud of the team’s play this season, specifically noting that they have been mashing the ball game after game. The All-Stars are hitting .473 as a team, while players like Isaac James (.800), Ace Lillpop (.562), Landon Marks (.467) are all batting well over .300.
“Offense has probably been the key [to our success] just because we are hitting it so well,” Lillpop said. “I don’t care who it is. They’re all hitting well.”
James has also been a dominant force on the mound for Owensboro, as he has tossed seven innings in two games, while giving up two hits, striking out 13 and giving up no walks.
“On the mound, Isaac James has been unbelievable,” Lillpop said. “Reese Hinton and Griffin Gaddis have also done well. Isaac James and Griffin Gaddis have been lights out. Reese Hinton threw really well in the pool play game, but we didn’t get to throw him anymore because we didn’t need to because we were playing four-inning games the whole time.”
Overall the All-Stars pitching staff has only walked nine batters in five games, while punching out a whopping 24. Pair that with a strong defense and Owensboro has been able to repeatedly put together complete games to grab wins.
“It’s all three facets of the game really,” Lillpop said. “When I say fielding, you’re talking about in five games of 10, 11, 12-year old baseball, we’ve made three errors. We’ve turned a double play and that’s hard to do in little league.”
Despite playing on all different teams throughout the rec ball season, Lillpop said it didn’t take long for the team to gel over the course of about 10-12 practices. And while Todd will admit he was a bit unsure how things would go initially, the players have come together well and the coaching staff has done a solid job of putting them in the best position to win night in and night out.
“I was a little nervous at the beginning just because we had a couple new faces and in little league everybody gets an opportunity so everybody’s playing,” Lillpop said. “I wasn’t nervous so to speak because I have a lot of confidence in these kids, but I just wanted to make sure I was going to screw something up and I wanted to put them in the best position to win these games. They have made it so easy on me and my staff. It doesn’t matter who we play, who we put in, who’s on the mound, who’s hitting. They’re all playing really well.”
Lillpop said that the biggest thing about the team this year is the growth that they have had since last season. He said the team has been extremely focused in practice and that they will continue to practice up until they hit the road on Friday in order to fulfill that hunger for a state championship.
“They’re just more mature,” Lillpop said. “They know how close they were last year to winning state. And for some of these guys, they know this is their last year and they don’t want that feeling again. So they’re very determined, very driven to win the state. They know last year if they would’ve won state that was it. Now if they win, they move on.”
They All-Stars will start their journey to a state title against a familiar to open up pool play, as they are set to take on Lexington Eastern in their first game at 10 a.m. eastern time. All in all, Lillpop says that if the crew focuses on the little things and stays mentally strong that they will be able to secure the 2022 State Championship and keep their season going.
“Just staying consistent and staying within themselves,” Lillpop said. “I told them since day one when we started practicing, if we throw strikes and we make the routine plays, we’re going to hit. So really it’s just stay focused, it’s one pitch at a time and if you make an error it’s not that big of a deal, let’s focus on the next play. And we’ve done such a good job of that.”
If anyone is interested in helping fund the Owensboro Southern 12u Little League All-Stars, you can Venmo @SouthernLL to make donations.
