For Citrus Park, 'It's Got To Be A Destiny Thing'

TAMPA - You can't beat these kids.

The place is near the big mall. You might have driven past it on your way to Christmas shopping.

You had no idea.

Mike "Big Mac" McGuire stood in the Citrus Park Little League complex early Monday night. He pointed to the scrawny tee-ball field.

"That's where a lot of us started," he said.

Now there was sheet cake with vanilla icing on a picnic table. There were TV cameras. Family and friends gathered to wish Mike and his pals all the best on the journey of their young lives. They might as well be going to the moon.

They left Tuesday, flying to Newark, N.J., before the long bus ride to the middle of Pennsylvania, to what seems like the middle of nowhere on a road atlas - this place named Williamsport.

Mike's teammate, Levi Gilcrease, smiled.

"It's the big dream."

They're A Relaxed Bunch

The Citrus Park Little League All-Stars, 12 youngsters, most of them 13 years old, play in the opening game of the 62nd Little League World Series on Friday afternoon.

They'll meet a team from South Dakota. They'll room in dorms across from a team from another country.

"It's got to be a destiny thing," said Ken Reid, whose son Wyatt plays for Citrus Park. "What are the chances these kids, out of hundreds of thousands, make it to Williamsport? It's got to be a destiny thing."

Unflappable Citrus Park coach Joe McGuire - Mike's dad - described their mission.

"We're representing our park and league," he said. "We're representing our district, our section and the whole state of Florida."

Oh, and their country.

"Right," Joe said.

Quite a load.

You wouldn't know it by those young faces. You wouldn't know it by their laughter.

"None of them are ever nervous," Joe said.

They haven't lost a game in two years.

Two years.

You can't beat these kids.

They don't care that they're never the biggest team.

"We kind of like that," said Wyatt Reid, Ken's son.

Like the game in Gulfport last Friday against Mobile, Ala., for the Southern Regional title and Williamsport. Mobile came in having hit homers all over the place.

Citrus Park won 11-0. It hit homers all over the place. Wyatt Reid hit two, including the shot to end it by 10-run rule and deliver the big dream.

It figured.

His nickname is "Vegas."

"They say I'm money," Wyatt said.

There's Vegas, Big Mac, Boogie, Rhino, D Man, K Man, Big A, Big D, Huck, on and on. And we'll let you in on a little secret: Super team is made up of ... normal boys!

They make silly jokes and like girls and play Wiffle Ball and go fishing and get along except when they don't, like when one of them says their Ping Pong shot is in and another says it isn't, and when they travel and it's 2 a.m. and they're still giggling, until Coach shouts that if he hears another sound ... they quiet down, then start whispering.

"That's who we are," Levi said.

Just Doing Their Thing

Joe McGuire's three assistants have been professionals. Assistant coach Doug Gilcrease - Levi's dad - played Double-A ball, as did Ken Reid. Then there's former Lutz Little League star Lance McCullers, whose sons Ryan (Rhino) and Austin (Big A) play for Citrus Park. Lance pitched in the major leagues.

But Joe makes the calls.

"I just go by my gut," he said.

Doug Gilcrease will ask him, "Do you even have a pulse?" That's just Joe, dead calm - like his team.

Don't forget the parents and their sacrifices - and not just players' parents, but all the league parents, all the fundraisers, raffles, chocolate sales or simply passing the bucket through the stands, anything to help get this wondrous team where it dreamed to be.

It was a soft Monday night at the fields where it began.

Vegas and Big Mac were cracking jokes. Brett "Boogie" Wilkosz was talking to four girls. Rhino McCullers and Dan "D Man" Martin were taking turns slapping a rubber ball and trying to reach the first base on the ball field painted on the cement.

"Safe," D Man yelled.

"Out," Rhino yelled back.

"No way, safe."

It's got to be a destiny thing.