[7/2/03]Calvin Masterson sometimes stands in the dugout, looks at his assistant coaches and shakes his head in amazement.

The play of his 9-year-olds’ tournament team is enough to make his head turn.

“As a coach, I sometimes just sit in the dugout and watch them play,” Masterson said. “I look back to when I was their age and played in the city league, and if we had to play this bunch, we would lose every game.”

Part of it, Masterson said, is that the baseball talent level in Vicksburg is continuosly getting better, but mostly it is a dedication to the game. His group, the Angels, started playing together as 5-year-olds as the Mudcats, and they are very well versed in the game. This season alone, the team has played 42 games entering the Cal Ripken State Tournament, which begins Friday at Halls Ferry Park. The 8-year-olds’ state tournament will also be at Halls Ferry starting on Saturday.

“If people want to see kids that will be playing college baseball one day, they need to come out and watch this team,” Masterson said. “The names you’ll see this weekend will be the ones you’ll see six and seven years down the road in high school and college.”

Masterson, who helped coach the 8-year-old Mudcats last season, moved up to the 9-year-olds, and Marshall Upton now coaches the 8-year-olds.

The team will play a double-elimination tournament against some of the best competition in Mississippi. With a tournament victory, the Angels would advance to the Cal Ripken regionals, then a World Series berth.

“Ultimately, we want to bring a national title back to Vicksburg,” Masterson said.

Before that, however, the Angels need to win the state tournament.

Clinton and the Jackson Patriots, a team the Angels beat in the Zeke Walley North Jackson Tournament, provide the stiffest competition, Masterson said..

In the past two tournaments, though, the Angels outscored their opponents 149-18.

“I hope we don’t get too confident,” Masterson said. “We have to keep our focus and realize that every time they go out there, they won’t score that many runs.”

The Angels were to start tournament play Friday morning at 10 a.m. against Booneville, but the North Mississippi team dropped out.

Instead, the Angels will play Orange Grove from the Gulf Coast at 6 p.m. on Friday..

In the 8-year-olds’ division, the Mudcats will be one of 16 teams competing for a trip to the state tournament.

Upton’s group brings a wealth of experience into the tournament, but he said the competition this year will be pretty stiff.

“If we play defense like we can, we can beat anyone,” Upton said.