For five long years, Chris May sat the bench at Porters Chapel.

Stuck one year behind a talented class of players, the left-hander played only sparingly. He poached an occasional appearance as a designated hitter, spare outfielder or starting pitcher, but never complained.

This season, his last, he finally got his chance to start and turned it into a senior year that placed him among the Mississippi Private School Association’s best.

May, along with teammates Matt Cranfield and Austin Barber, will play for the South in the MPSA Class A all-star game Saturday morning at Trustmark Park. Tallulah Academy’s Cason Landrem will also play for the South.

“I’m very happy for Chris May. He paid his dues and worked hard. He’s been with me for six years, and he’s very deserving of this,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “These guys had a great year for us. They definitely deserve to be all-stars. It says a lot for the program when you get three like this.”

Despite his long tenure as a backup, May has the rare distinction of being the only PCA player with two Class A championship rings. He got one as a seventh-grader in 2003, and another in 2006.

If you goMPSA All-Star GameSaturday, 11 a.m. at Trustmark ParkAlong the way, May did get some chances to play before 2008. He went 7-0 as a pitcher the previous two years, and hit .304 in 23 at-bats in 2007. That experience helped this year when he took over as PCA’s starting right fielder.

In his first full season in the lineup, he hit .337 with 11 doubles, four home runs and 36 RBIs. Almost as impressive as his hitting stats was his prowess on the basepaths. May, who was a starting guard for PCA’s football team, stole 17 bases. He also went 2-2 as a pitcher, helping the Eagles reach the second round of the playoffs.

“It helped getting to play last year. I wasn’t completely shocked when I got in there,” May said, adding that having a good season was especially important for this group of players. “We wanted to prove everybody wrong. Last year’s class graduated so many starters that nobody thought we had a chance. We wanted to prove everybody wrong, and for the most part we did.”

Barber took nearly the same path as May to the all-star game. The third baseman and left fielder had one at-bat in 2006 – it was a strikeout – and quit the team early in the 2007 season. He returned this spring and ended up hitting .282, scoring 21 runs and stealing 24 bases.

“I thought I lost baseball for a while. After sitting out that one year I realized how much I missed it,” Barber said, adding that playing with May and Cranfield in the all-star game was a nice way to wrap up his high school career. “It’s a great opportunity. We played ball together our whole lives, and now our last game we get to play together at Trustmark Park.”

While May and Barber sat the bench for most of their careers, Cranfield was a vital part of the Eagles’ lineup for four years.

Cranfield won a playoff game as a freshman in 2005, emerged as the top starting pitcher on the 2006 championship team, and in 2007 hit .385 with four homers and 34 RBIs. This year, he went 9-1 on the mound – PCA’s only pitcher with more than two wins, and accounting for half of its 18 total victories – and led the team with a .478 batting average, seven homers and 44 RBIs.

Cranfield has signed to play at Hinds Community College next season.

“I didn’t pitch hardly any last year. It’s good to go out with a year like that,” Cranfield said.