By T. Scott Boatright
The Ruston Sports Complex turned into a “Field of Dreams” Tuesday night for the Ruston 11U All-Stars baseball team.
Kevin Costner’s classic “Field of Dreams” was about a son building a dream to get one last chance to play a game of catch with the ghost of his father on a baseball field built on a Iowa cornfield.
That dream started with Costner hearing a voice in his head telling him, “If you build it, he will come” – he being the ghost of Costner’s character – Ray Kinsella’s father.
On Tuesday, it was 11 fathers who walked out onto the turf at the Ruston Baseball Complex to take on their sons for a game of baseball.
The idea was the brainchild of Max Causey, who got to take on his son Barnes and the 11U All-Stars.
“I had seen on social media through the years various moms vs. sons games,” Causey said. “And I thought, ‘We’ve got an athletic group of dads, why not a dads vs. sons game?’ So that was the impetus, and it ended up being a battle to the end.”
The All-Stars admitted that watching the “Has Beens,” as the Dads Team called themselves, walk out onto the field was more than a little surprising.
Jacoby Smith, son of Ruston High School baseball coach Zack Smith, was one of those All-Stars momentarily stunned when the “Has Beens” took the field.
“We thought it was going to be another team,” Jacoby said. “Even when some of the dads started walking out we didn’t know what was happening. But then when more and more kept on coming out on the field and yelling and everything, we realized that was who we were going to be playing.”
The game wasn’t really about the score, but like many father/son match-ups, the scoreboard kept things fun and in the end made the outcome even more meaningful for the All-Stars.
Trailing by three runs going into the bottom half of the sixth and final inning, the 11U All-Stars rallied to take a 11-10 come-from-behind win over the “Has Beens” in a game in which the players, umpire Choo Kirkendoff and any friends and families in attendance in the stands all walked away winners.
“This was about lifelong memories,” Causey said. “We wanted it to be an epic night that the kids will never forget. They’re 11, and I really believe they’ll remember this forever.
“The outcome was probably exactly what it needed to be. We had some action, some homers, some funny plays – it was just an awesome night.”
It was the Dads who took an early lead as Steve Davison stole home in the top of the first inning before adding a pair of runs in the top of the second inning when Ryan Kilpatrick and Anson Culpepper both scored.
But the All-Stars battled back to tie things up 3-3 in the bottom of the third with three runs on two hits, including a two-RBI double by Kingston Culpepper.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said All-Star Rhodes Kilpatrick after the game. “I thought at first the fathers were there to help warm-up before the game, and I didn’t think that’s who we were going to be playing. But that was a great game. It was a lot of fun.”
The Has Beens used a pair of two-run homers – one by Patrick Ramsey and one by Davison – to build what appeared to be a commanding 8-3 advantage.
But the All-Stars weren’t close to finished.
“It’s a lot of fun when you get guys who still think they can do it going up against young kids who really can,” Davison said. “It was good to see the right team won the game, but we stressed them a little bit, so we were glad to do that. I think that was a good thing for them.”
A former baseball player for Louisiana Tech, Davison admitted the night brought back some memories.
“It was a lot of fun,” Davison said of his long-awaited return to the field. “You never really get over missing it. It was good to get out, break a little sweat and compete a little bit.”
It also strengthened father/son connections for all out on the field.
“This was about fun, and bragging rights and a little smack talk and things like that,” Davison said. “They got the win, but the dads had a few highlights we can remember, too.”
Things got interesting in the bottom of the fifth, when the All-Stars matched the Has Beens’ four runs in to the top half of the stanza with four of their own, thanks largely in part by three singles along with four hit batters by Davison, who had taken the mound for the Dads that inning.
“There was a little smack talk going on out there,” Davison said. “They were crowding the plate on me, so I had to try to establish that inside, unfortunately to my team’s detriment.”
The Has Beens added a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to build a 10-7 advantage before the heroics by the All-Stars in the bottom half of the inning.
Another former LA Tech Bulldog baseballer – All-Stars coach Jordan Taylor – got into the action by pinch hitting in the bottom of the half of the sixth. But Taylor flied out to second before an RBI double by Jacoby Smith followed by an RBI single by Barnes Causey sent the All-Stars into a walk-off celebration.
The Ruston 11U All-Stars included Smith, Causey, Brycen Bennett, Ryder Walpole, Grey Ramsey, Henry Walpole, Grant Alexander, Joseph Davison, Rhodes Kilpatrick John Cole Parker and Kingston Culpepper.
Eli Wilson, another integral member of the Ruston 11u All-Star team, was out of town and unable to participate or the game may not have been as close.
The Has Beens roster included Zack Smith, Steve Davison, Jason Alexander, Brad Bennett, Jeff Parker, Ryan Kilpatrick, Anson Culpepper, Jay Walpole, Max Causey, Danny Walpole and Patrick Ramsey.
“It was so much fun,” Jacoby Smith said of the night. “It was a lot different than a normal game because all the pressure was off. It was only about having fun.”
And that, Jacoby said, was the biggest lesson he learned from the Dads.
“Baseball is still a game and just about having fun – that’s what I learned,” Jacoby said.
