Cape team prepares for Cal Ripken World Series

~ The Cape Girardeau 12-and-under Cal Ripken All-Stars will compete in the world series this week in Maryland

As the 12 members of the Cape Girardeau 12-and-under Cal Ripken All-Stars baseball team made their way down the stairs and into one of the below-ground dugouts at Notre Dame High School's baseball field, there were some oohs and aahs over the professional-style setup.

One player in the crowd, though, already had his mind on the team's next destination, the 2009 Cal Ripken World Series at Ripken Baseball Complex in Aberdeen, Md.

"There are bathrooms in the dugout at the World Series," he predicted in awe-struck tone, drawing more excited responses from teammates.

There also will be grass infields inside the stadiums, modeled after Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards, which are what brought the team to Notre Dame's too-big grass infield to prepare.

Second baseman Thomas Himmelberg tosses to catcher Cameron Grueninger during infield practice Tuesday evening with the Cape Girardeau Cal Ripken U-12 All-Stars at Notre Dame Regional High School. The team will play in the Cal Ripken World Series later this week. (Kit Doyle)

Cape is one of 16 12-and-under Cal Ripken teams still practicing around the world. Ten teams from the U.S. will be split into two pool play divisions for the World Series, while six teams from other countries will compete in a third division beginning Saturday. Two teams from each U.S. division and four teams from the international division will advance to the championship bracket.

"Actually, we are achieving a goal we started out with at the beginning of the year," Cape coach Kenny Urhahn said of reaching the World Series.

It was a lofty goal, but one most members of the team knew from experience was attainable. Two years ago, with virtually the same roster, Cape reached the 10-and-under World Series.

In 2007, they became the first team from the Midwest regional to win a game at the World Series, before losing their next two games and being eliminated. They had a good time, but this time they have hope to stick around a little longer.

"We think we might stay in the winners bracket this time," catcher Cameron Grueninger said. "It's going to be more fun for me because we know we're a lot better this year."

The team is made up entirely of all-star players from the Cape recreational league. Although it's not uncommon in Cal Ripken baseball, Urhahn has never sought players from outside the league to keep on the roster for postseason play.

"There's going to be some really tough competition," Urhahn said. "We are a Cape team. We have a total of I think 45, 50 boys that are in the 12-year-old Cape league that we choose from. So there's 12 out of that 45, 50."

In part because the pool of players from the recreational league to choose from is small, most of the team members have been playing together for years on weekends and during special tournaments.

"We never have tryouts," Urhahn said. "It's always just been the all-stars, even when we do the extra ball from one year to the next."

Watching the players and the team mature from summer to summer makes this moment all the more satisfying for Urhahn and coaches Mike Himmelberg and Marty Pope.

"I've had people say, 'Well, you ought to have tryouts for your traveling team,' but we've never had them," Urhahn said. "Most of these boys started when they were 9, and it's a lot more satisfaction to work with them and see them develop and become good players than to simply go out and recruit the best ones."

Perhaps it's all the time they've spent together and all the winning they've done that allowed the players to set their sights so high before the season began.

"We just thought about [making it to another World Series] and said how cool it would be to go back, so we just tried a little bit harder, and that's why we got here," said pitcher and third baseman Chase Hagerty, better known to his teammates as "Hags."

Hagerty said Urhahn and the other coaches occasionally would remind them they had a few more games to win before their plane tickets to the series would be reserved.

"We were like, 'Yeah, but it's fun to talk about,'" Hagerty said with a big smile.

Win or lose, having fun is one thing that will remain on the team's list of goals. Even practice was full of it, from the friendly competition to see how many times two players could keep a ball bouncing from each other's bat while they were waiting for their turn during batting practice, to the good-natured ribbing of outfielders taking grounders on the infield, to Himmelberg throwing Grueninger a slider after he insisted on being pitched one last ball.

"We're going to try to make this just the most positive experience we can for these boys because you just don't get this opportunity," Urhahn said. "We're to this point. It's all gravy. We're where we wanted to be."

After all, at this point, even if they don't win a game at the World Series, the players already know they've already won a significant prize -- getting to miss the beginning of the school year, something outfielder J.D. Harding admitted "We've all been looking forward to."