BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 Twelve six-year-olds from Bakersfield are spending their summer playing baseball at the highest level of their young careers, and they are not done yet.<\/p>\n
The Bakersfield Southwest 6U All-Stars have been on an impressive postseason run, capturing a section championship and finishing third at the regional tournament. They now head to West Covina as the No. 1 seed in next week’s PONY League Shetland Division super regional tournament. A top-four finish would earn them a trip to the PONY Shetland Division World Series.<\/p>\n
“We couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” coach Clinton Hedrick said. “A lot of these kids are six years old and it’s a lot of baseball. We’re practicing and playing 6 to 7 days a week.”<\/p>\n
Fellow coach Frankie Rodriguez said the team has found a winning formula.<\/p>\n
“The kids that we have are incredible,” Rodriguez said. “This team has just been clicking and just… we’re winning.”<\/p>\n
The players themselves have a clear sense of what is driving their success.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been practicing really good,” player Brody said. “And our coaches teach us a lot of stuff.”<\/p>\n
“Because we’re catching good and hitting good,” player Luca said.<\/p>\n
When asked why the team has been so good, player Reid kept it simple.<\/p>\n
“We like winning,” Reid said.<\/p>\n
Player Trey pointed to something less tangible.<\/p>\n
“Just probably having fun,” Trey said. “And trying your best.”<\/p>\n
The kids are equally enthusiastic about what they love most about the game. Luca said his favorite part is hitting. Reid said he loves “when you hit line drives.” Trey said he loves playing first base because “you get in every single play.” And Brody summed it up in his own way.<\/p>\n
“Just have fun hanging out with my friends,” Brody said.<\/p>\n
As for what Trey is most looking forward to at the super regional tournament, his answer may be the most honest of all.<\/p>\n
“Probably taking a nap on the way there,” Trey said. “That’s my favorite part.”<\/p>\n
Brody, meanwhile, already has the right perspective heading into the competition.<\/p>\n
“Just try your best,” Brody said. “And if we lose, it’s still good. Just be grateful that you played so well… and just have fun.”<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 Twelve six-year-olds from Bakersfield are spending their summer playing baseball at the highest level…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,155,153,152,162],"class_list":["post-383430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-kern-county-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}