Jim Mashek

JEF GOODNIGHT’s BG EAST ALL-STARS OPEN TOURNAMENT PLAY AGAINST MICHIGAN SQUAD ON SATURDAY MORNING

Jef Goodnight and his assistant coaches with the Bowling Green East Little League All-Stars were taking nothing for granted Monday evening.

Bowling Green East is going back to regional play in the ultracompetitive Little League postseason, having practiced virtually every day since returning from a pulsating 1-0 victory over North Oldham in the State Championship Game last week in Corbin.

Goodnight put the BG East All-Stars through their paces on Monday at Keriakes Park, at the ballpark named after the late Rick Kelley, the longtime manager of the squad who died in 2022. Goodnight’s players are quick to point out what Kelley’s legacy means to their team, and they’ve yet to lose this summer while in pursuit of another trip to the Little League World Series next month in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

(Full disclosure: Kelley was my WKU fraternity brother, with Sigma Alpha Epsilon, in the surrealistic ’70s …)

“We’re following (Kelley’s) plan,” Goodnight said. “Rick was a mentor to me, after I lost my son (Mason Goodnight) in 2017 … He took me under his wing.”

The 12 players who comprise the BG East squad are all 12 years old, and one of the team’s greatest strengths is its pitching depth, starting with rangy right-hander Henry Phillips, a pitcher and shortstop for the Cubs.

The Cubs are one of eight teams in the BG East Little League’s 11- and 12-year-old division, and the only one with three represantives on the All-Star team. Phillips fired a 1-hitter, stopping North Oldham, 1-0, in the state championship game last week in Corbin.

Captain Carr, Phillips’ catcher with the Cubs, was behind the plate for that memorable game.

“Henry is very consistent out there,” Carr said. “He has good velocity, and mixes his pitches well.”

Phillips said one of the secrets of the BG East squad’s success is the familiarity the players have developed over the years.

“We’re a confident team,” Phillips said. “We’ve been playing together since we were six or seven years old …”

The BG East squad will square off with the Michigan state champion on Saturday morning at the Little League Great Lakes Regional Tournament in Whitestown, Indiana. Whitestown will play host to both the Great Lakes and Midwest regionals, and BG East coach Jef Goodnight will make sure his players are packed for a l-o-n-g trip when they leave for Indiana on Thursday morning.

“It’s a brand-new park,” Goodnight said. “If we win it, (next) Wednesday, we’ll be leaving on a bus for Williamsport the next morning …”

The BG East All-Stars have 12 players, and two alternates, so depth obviously can be a factor in a tournament format. Captain Carr and Henry Phillips are two of those 12 players, along with teammates Dylan White, Kip Walden, Easton Crawford, Jake Young, Asa Buchanan, Brady Boyd, Pipes Gaines, Wyatt Scott, Trace Wilkins and Caleb Harbin.

All of the BG East players attend Bowling Green Junior High, and the late Rick Kelley took BG East to the Little League World Series three times — 2015 (a fourth-place finish), 2016 (a third-place finish) and 2019. Goodnight said Kelley saw promise in this group when they were in knee pants, learning the fundamentals and finding their way around the diamond.

“We’re doing this for Rick,” Goodnight said. “This was his last group, that he really got to work with … He told us, ‘This group, these kids can get to Williamsport …'”

BG East catcher Captain Carr said his squad needs to keep an even keel, while understanding the regional tournament is not a sprint, but a metaphorical marathon.

“We just have to hit, and put the ball in play,” Carr said. “Our defense is really solid.”

That’s why Jef Goodnight has in mind, as the BG East All-Stars look to make some history of their own.

“It’s not always the most talented team, that wins a tournament like this,” Goodnight said. “You’ve got to be mentally tough.”