CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Former Clarksville business owner and radio host Randy Huth is headed to the Little League World Series as a coach for Team Tennessee.
“It is an amazing grind of a tournament,” Huth said. “We’ve been gone since August 4th and these kids haven’t had any contact with their parents. If we continue to win, we could be here until the 30th. It’s been pretty incredible so far.”
Nolensville originally punched their ticket to Williamsport, Pennsylvania after defeating Georgia 4-2 last Tuesday and avenging a heartbreaking-loss they suffered earlier in the tournament in which they squandered a 5-0 lead to the team from Warner Robbins.
Huth’s team then went on to capture the Southeast Region championship in come-from-behind fashion after erasing a three-run deficit to take down Florida 10-3 on Wednesday.
“Well that game was an interesting one because we had already clinched our spot in the Little League World Series the day before,” Huth said. “We were very flat when we came out and were losing all the way until the fifth inning until our kids decided to start having a little bit more fun and when we do that, we’re a tough team to beat.
“I can’t put into words what it was like seeing the kids’ attitudes and their actions after winning. It was incredible. I mean I was in tears. Being on that field in the region tournament and winning it, was something I never thought would happen. It was a pretty special thing.”
Been around the block
Huth initially decided to relocate to the Williamson County area to cut out his daily commute from Clarksville to Nashville.
“I’m originally from Clarksville and I owned bars in Nashville,” Huth said. “I used to own The Gilroy, Cloud 9 and was a partner in Kelly’s Pub, but I owned some bars in downtown Nashville too. If you’ve ever driven back and forth between the two cities, you know that interstate gets backed up often. It can be a very lengthy drive at times, so it made more sense to move closer to Nashville.”
Huth, a Clarksville native, is no stranger to the diamond. He spent his high school playing days at Northeast where he was a part of the first-ever state semifinalist team from the city of Clarksville.
“We made it to the final four in my senior year which was 1997,” Huth said. “From there, I played baseball in college and actually pitched in the Junior College World Series. I even played overseas in China, so I’ve done a lot with baseball. For the past 21 years, I’ve been involved as a little league coach.”
In the bubble
Team Tennessee has been on the road for nearly a month with the majority of the players being away from their families. Currently, the players and coaches remain inside a ‘safety bubble’ isolated by themselves, adhering to the LLWS COVID-19 protocols.
“From the kids’ perspective, I think that they could care less because we are in Williamsport and they are in the mecca of little league baseball. It is the coolest experience you could ever imagine. I mean these kids have dreamed about this since they were five years old. Now they have the opportunity to be on ESPN and play on the biggest little league stage imaginable. They’re down to the top 16 teams in the country out of 4,500. They don’t even notice.”
“From our perspective it’s stressful. We’re trying to keep everybody sanitized and clean with their masks on. We can’t go anywhere. We have to stay on the Williamsport property at all times. I basically adopted 13 kids for the entire summer.”
Nolensville second baseman William Satinoff and the rest of his teammates have tried to make the best out of quarantine, keeping themselves occupied by playing video games and spending time on their phones.
“Me and five other kids have been playing together since we were six and I think that’s helped out our chemistry a lot,” Satinoff said. “We’ve been talking to and kind of leaning on each other since most of our parents aren’t here.”
Ties to Vanderbilt
The team captain for the Williamson County All-Stars is their power hitter Nolan Brown who also happens to be the son of Vanderbilt pitching coach Scott Brown.
“I couldn’t even put into words how much he means to our team,” Huth said. “He’s definitely our leader. The kid is just so composed. He’s been around elite level baseball his entire life obviously because of his father’s job, but he doesn’t get affected by the big lights. He’s delivered in every way imaginable.”
Up until this point of the tournament, Nolensville has donned black and gold pinstripes which appeared to be a near-mirror image of Vanderbilt’s baseball uniforms. According to Huth, the jerseys did in fact help to give the team an added boost on the field. For the Williamson County faithful, they are just hoping this set of Commodores will fair differently on their respected sport’s biggest stage this season.
“The funny thing about that story is, they (Vanderbilt) played in the College World Series championship game the same night we played in the district championship game,” Huth said. “If you flashback a few year’s ago, Nolan’s team lost in their state tournament at the same time that Vanderbilt won the World Series. Coach Scott Brown said, ‘Son there’s only room for one champion in this house’. So this year when you fast forward, we won and they lost. Nolan went back at Scott and said Dad, ‘There’s only room for one champion in this house’. It definitely gave him a boost.”
How to watch
The format of this year’s LLWS is a bit different with the field featuring only regional champions and the runner-ups as no international teams can compete due to COVID-19.
Tennessee will face off against Ohio Thursday, Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. central time. The game can be seen on ESPN.
“The kids are just excited as can be and they’re just ready to get on the field,” Huth said. “All this time in between is hard for kids because they just want to be active. If you look at this Ohio team, they’re well-coached and have some big kids who can throw it pretty good. We’re definitely going to have to play our best baseball if we want to win.”
Satinoff is excited for the opportunity to be able to represent Tennessee in the Little League World Series.
“It’s been a really good time,” Satinoff said. “Nolensville isn’t really that big so if we win this thing, more people will know about us. We’re just ready to play.”
Huth has an immense amount of love for the city of Clarksville and is appreciative of all the support the team has received from his hometown.
“Clarksville will always have a special place in my heart,” Huth said. “The majority of my friends are still there and I support Clarksville any way that I can. Even before we started this run, I brought our team up to Clarksville to scrimmage the Clarksville National All-Star team, so they could get ready for their own tournament. Any time I can get the chance to do anything with Clarksville sports, I definitely always want to be involved.”