Nearly a month ago the Mechanicsville National Juniors baseball team started dreaming. Prior the start of the District V playoffs, the players speculated on whether or not they had the talent to eventually play for a World Series title on national television. Nationals’ manager Steve Lam said his talented group of athletes wondered how good they really were.  “Is it possible to get to that championship game on ESPN2?” he said they asked themselves.

  This weekend the team travels to the Junior League World Series in Taylor, Michigan, a mere five games from finding their answer.

  “It’s one of those things, you think about it and it feels too far to grab,” said pitcher Josh Lam. “But then you come back and we’re right here.”

  But Steve Lam does not feel that now being so close to a dream will add pressure. “We accomplished everything we hoped for and probably more,” he said. “Anything we do from here is icing on the cake. However, with that said, the kids are focused, confident in their baseball ability and they’re going down there to win.”

  And winning is something that the team has proven proficient at.
  After breezing through practically every opponent on the district and state level, Mechanicsville expected a tougher road at last week’s Southeast Regionals in Greenville, SC and that was just what they got.

  In their first two games, the 13-14 year olds found themselves in early holes. A struggle on the mound allowed Tennessee to run out to a 5-0 lead in their opener. Likewise, in their second game West Virginia pulled ahead 4-0.

  But trailing for the first time since the District V championship game against Tuckahoe American, Lam felt his players showed poise and maturity; something that will help them in World Series play.

  “In those games against Tennessee and West Virginia the kids didn’t hang their heads,” Lam said. “They kept battling. We have a lot of confidence in our hitting. We just kept chipping away.”

  Mechanicsville bounced back to pull out a 10-7 win over Tennessee and defeated West Virginia 6-4.

  However, the outcomes did change Lam’s strategy. Because of pitch-count limitations, he had planned to staff the opening games but when his normal starters struggled he was forced to adapt. Instead of staffing he threw Josh Lam more than he wanted against Tennessee, forcing a day’s rest. Then with 96 pitches against West Virginia, Matthew Corley was burnt for the tournament.

  Therefore Lam turned to Cody Powers to take the mound against Florida. In what Lam described as “the most intense game we played bar-none,” Powers threw a gem and gave Mechanicsville a 5-1 win to finish pool play undefeated. 

  Mechanicsville went back to Josh Lam in the regional semifinals against North Carolina for a complete game 12-0 shutout.

  And though Taylor Campbell struggled against Tennessee, he bounced back with a strong outing in five innings of the championship game against Georgia. Bryce Shepherd then closed out the 6-3 win.

  Though he intends to staff the World Series openers, a bad schedule draw could once again force change. Every team gets a bye date, but Mechanicsville’s bye comes on opening day. “From a strategy standpoint it doesn’t help us at all,” Lam said. “All of those other teams are going to get a real bye where they can throw a kid 35 pitches and he needs a days rest. That day’s rest comes on their bye, so that kid will never miss a game.”

  Therefore, once again Lam plans to staff and adapt. “If we can get to the semifinals and the championship my goal is to have Josh Lam, Taylor Campbell, Bryce Shepherd ready to go,” he said. Lam will then use Powers and Corley in relief.

  Mechanicsville opened World Series play on Monday, with a 4-2 win over East Regional Champion New Jersey. On Tues. they will play Texas at 8 p.m. then take on Indiana at 5 p.m. on Wed. Mechanicsville will close out the pool games with a 5 p.m. matchup against California.

  The international contingent will have teams from Taipei, China, Kirovograd, Ukraine, Guatemala City, Mexico and Canada.

  The United States championship will take place on Friday, Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. with the winner meeting the top International team at 2 p.m. Sat. in an ESPN2 broadcast championship.

  The dream of reaching that television broadcast is still alive for Mechanicsville but regardless of the outcome the players feel they will leave with a feeling of satisfaction as long as they go out fighting.

  “If we lose a game, we have to lose playing our best, then I’ll be satisfied,” said Jeffery Decker. “If the team’s better than us we can’t do anything about it.”

For a fee the games can be watched live online at http://www.youthsportslive.com/Video-Emails/Little-League-ST-2010.aspx.