Mesquite Boys Compete At Youth Nationals Tournament

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

Four Mesquite youth travelled to Reno, Nevada earlier this month for the opportunity to play in the Youth Baseball Nationals tournament for kids age 13 and under.

Thirteen-year-olds Jordan Goodsell, Koby Perry and Tray Hughes; and 11-year-old Krew Perry; all played together on the Rebels 13-U team out of St. George, Utah. The D-3 ranked team; made up of players from St. George, Cedar City, and the four from Mesquite; entered the annual tournament in Reno and played on June 25-July 1.

The team had a good showing in the tournament which brought together 130 of the best 13U teams from all over the western United States. The Rebels played six games in a bracket that included about twenty of those teams and they ended up ranking solidly in the middle of the pack.

But two of the Rebels players were singled out, by vote of opposing coaches in the tournament, to go on to compete in a nation-wide All-Star tournament later this year. Those two were Jordan Goodsell and Koby Perry of Mesquite.

Jordan and Koby will have the opportunity to play in the invitation-only All-American Games this December with a choice of a couple of different tournament locations across the country. It is likely that the two will play in the Houston, TX tournament, according to Justin Goodsell, who is Jordan’s father and a coach on the Rebels team.

“We were pretty lucky on our team because, from what I understand, there are really not many teams to have two players chosen for the All-Stars,” said Coach Goodsell. “They both did a phenomenal job.”

The tournament posed a particular challenge because of the high temperatures experienced that week in Reno.

“It was an unbelievable heatwave for Reno that week!” Coach Goodsell said. “The temperatures on the turf were 120-plus degrees.”

During the week-long tournament, Jordan had a batting average of .692. He achieved an on-base percentage of .872. He had nine RBIs and hit one triple and four doubles on the week.

Amid all of that, Jordan was hit by pitches in five of the six games played in the tournament.
“It was pretty crazy,” said Coach Goodsell. “By that last one he was like, ‘C’mon! Seriously?!’”

Jordan played catcher in five out of the six games the team played. While he was catching, Jordan had zero passed ball errrors and he threw out several runners attempting to steal.

Koby Perry was outstanding in the tournament as well. He ended up with a .500 batting average in the tournament with four RBIs. He hit a triple and a double. In fact, in Game 3 of the tournament Koby went one homerun shy of getting the cycle, meaning he got a single, double and triple all in that one game, going 3 for 3 at bat.

Koby also did some great pitching over the week. He pitched all of Game 1 with 62 throws. He achieved a 75 percent ball-to-strike ratio during that game.
“He pretty much shut down that team for the entire game,” Coach Goodsell said.

The two boys expressed excitement to be able to advance to the All-Star tournaments in December.
“Of course, it was my goal to be selected, but I didn’t know if it was going to happen,” said Jordan Goodsell in an interview last week. “It is going to give me a really cool experience!”

“I was pretty surprised when I got picked for an All-Star slot,” said Koby Perry. “I didn’t really see it coming at all. It was cool though. I can’t wait to go and play in an All-Star game!”

Coach Goodsell emphasized that the other two local boys who played in the tournament also had a strong performance.

Tray Hughes batted .470 in the tournament as the top lead-off in the lineup. He came in to pitch against one of the toughest teams in the tournament and performed well.

“Not only did he go 2 for 3 that game batting, but he pitched four innings, had over 75% strike-to-ball ratio and struck out four guys,” Coach Goodsell said.

The younger brother of Koby, Krew Perry remarkably came into the 13U tournament at the age of 11.
“The team had a spot available that we needed to fill,” said Coach Goodsell. “Since his family was coming up anyway, we asked Krew if he could throw on a uniform for us. He said, ‘Absolutely, yeah! Let’s do this.’”

As an 11 year old in the tournament, Krew maintained a batting average of .333.

In Game 6, at the end of the tournament play, his older brother Koby had been pitching almost 90 throws per game. So Krew was called in to relieve him in that last game.

“He did it without hestitation,” said Coach Goodsell. “I mean, he just stepped up on the mound and pitched against kids almost twice his size and over a longer distance than he is used to.”

Krew faced 10 batters to end the game. He struck out three of them and gave up only one hit.
“It gave me chills he did so good,” Coach Goodsell said.