Pensacola, Florida—we were on our way. We had a caravan of cars following each other. Along with our usual fans, we had family members and friends who decided to make it a vacation trip to come and support us. Regardless of the reason, we showed up deep, and we were all about business.

The first order of business was the banquet, and we decided to approach it differently than we had the previous year in Kenner. This time, we showed up dressed in business attire. We wanted to make a statement from the start—that these young Black boys from Louisiana meant business. And that’s exactly what we did.

In our first game or two, we were beating teams by the 10-run rule. As a matter of fact, instead of just sharing from memory, I’ll share a portion of the original newspaper article titled:

FORD All-Stars now battling for World Series Title

As difficult as it for major league baseball teams to win a World Series, it is perhaps more difficult to repeat as champions the next season. Take the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds as examples. The younger the team, the more difficult it usually is to deal with the positive pressure of a championship season.

This common phenomenon applies even more to minor, collegiate, high school and little leagues. In St. John Parish, 18 boys from Garyville, Reserve, LaPlace and Edgard successfully dealt with the title of defending their Dizzy Dean Sophomore Division State Championship.

The FORD team, coached by Juan Watkins and Charles McQuarter, assisted by Charles Watkins and managed by Terrance Charles, won the State Championship last week for the second consecutive year, and advanced to the Dizzy Dean Sophomore World Series which began Saturday and ends with the championship game today.

The 13-14 age division state champion from a ten state area are playing at the Dizzy Dean Sophomore Park in Brentwood, Florida, which is a suburb of Pensacola. The winner takes the title of Dizzy Dean Sophomore World Champion.

FORD made it to the World Series last year in Kenner, but lost in the first round to Maryland. Because of nine returning starters, FORD was ranked among three teams to win this year’s World Series. They have already won their first two games and were scheduled to play in the semifinals Tuesday night, Tropical Storm Beryl permitting.

“The coaches and the national directors picked us and the Mississippi team we beat last night and Alabama, based on what the state directors told them about returning players, this year’s record, pitching depth, and quality of the depth, which is the most important factor after you win the first two games,” said Assistant Coach Charles Watkins Tuesday afternoon from Brent, FLA.

Ironically, when teams were bracketed for the Series, FORD was picked to play Maryland Saturday afternoon. Maryland was the team that knocked FORD out of last year’s World Series, 3-2 in Kenner

SWEET REVENGE

FORD got the most possible revenge out of Saturday’s game, 10-run ruling Maryland in the sixth inning 13 to 2.

At 4:20 in the afternoon winning pitcher Romell Anthony of LaPlace began a three inning stint on the mound, giving up just one hit and threw walks, while striking out eight Maryland sluggers.

Offensively, the second inning gave FORD a five run lead they would never relinquish. Winning 1-0 after the first inning, Richard Martin of LaPlace opened round two action with a single. Calvin Lee of Garyville then slammed Martin home with a two run home run for a 3-0 FORD lead.

Jermaine Rousell of LaPlace then struck out, but the catcher missed the ball and Rousell got on first, then stole second. FORD’s next two batters then struck out, before Damon Mason knocked Rousell in on a single. Mason stole second and third bases and came home on a wild pitch for a 5-0 second inning lead.

In the third inning Romell Anthony and Richard Martin secord on a Calvin Lee like drive down left field. Mason ended the inning with an RBI single, as FORD extended their lead to 8-0.

FORD didn’t score in the fourth, but pitcher Jermaine Rousell made sure to keep the score the same with a no hitz two walk three strike out performance.

Maryland scored first in the fifth inning on an unearned run, pitcher Calvin Lee.  FORD’s catcher dropped Lee’s third strike out and Lee balked twice to send Marylands’ short stoper on base.

In the sixth inning with the score 8-1, FORD coaches sent Damon Mason to the mound. Maryland’s left fielder scored in the top of the inning. Mason then walked two.

SAVOIE SAVE

With no outs and bases loaded, Derek SAVOIE of Edgard took over on the mond. SAVOIE got the St. John team out of the inning with no runs, no walks and one hit.
“SAVOIE is a spot hitter,” said Coach Watkins.
“He’s used mostly to insure that we keep the innings off our top pitchers. He’s a good athlete, plays the infield and outfield and throws strikes.”

FORD came back in the bottom of the sixth when Lendell Smith of LaPlace led off a single and got to second base on a fielder’s choice. Romell Anthony then hit a fly out to deep center field, while Smith advanced to third base. Richard Martin then walked, loading the bases before Calvin Lee hit a fly ball to center field for the second out. Jermaine Rousell got on first on a grounder to short stop, scoring Smith. Mandry Smith then hit a grand slam over the 300ft. center field walk to end the game 13-2.

I just wanted to give my readers some accurate details from our games. We were the only undefeated team in the Series, and we were scheduled to play for the championship. Unfortunately, we ended up losing the first game of the championship. The team we played was very well prepared for us, and it seemed like we couldn’t do anything right.

To make matters worse, Chris Nicholas got hit in the mouth by a pitch, and after that, we all lost our composure.

The only silver lining was that, since we were undefeated, Mississippi had to beat us twice, since they already had one loss. We had actually beaten them earlier that week. But they did just that, we lost two games in one night. During the second game, it got so bad that we were just ready to go home.

It was an unbelievable experience that didn’t end the way we had planned. But that loss—the pain of losing the big gamewould go on to shape our upcoming high school careers and, for me personally, my entire journey through high school, college, and professional athletics.

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In Episode 18, the final episode:

There’s only one thing left to do…

What we failed to do in Florida—let’s do it in high school. But a major change is coming.