COLUMBIA — Every young baseball player dreams of making it to the big stage, and two local athletes are among the best of the best.

Folk native Jeremy Bexten, who now lives in Ashland, is the head coach of the Daniel Boone Little League 12U All-Star Team, which swept through the Missouri Little League State Tournament and is headed to Whitestown, Ind., to represent Missouri in the Midwest Region Tournament.

“Many of these kids have been talking about this opportunity for years,” said Bexten. “Some of these boys played on the 9U, 10U, and 11U All-Star teams. It’s been fun watching them grow on their league teams and then come together each summer for an All-Star team.”

Daniel Boone is scheduled to open regional play against Minnesota at 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. A regional championship would send the team to Williamsport, Penn., for the Little League World Series.

“We would have to win regionals to get to that,” Bexten said. “We’re taking it one step at a time.”

Getting this far has already required Daniel Boone to turn a collection of talented players into a championship team in a relatively short period.

The All-Star team was assembled during the final week of June, following the regular season. Approximately 25 eligible players tried out, with the Daniel Boone Little League board selecting 13. Eight came from Bexten’s league team, with the others drawn from several other teams.

The Midwest Region includes state champions from Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Winning the regional tournament would earn Daniel Boone a place alongside the other United States regional champions and international qualifiers in Williamsport.

Regional play also brings television coverage. The team’s first games are scheduled for ESPN+, with later-round games moving to ESPN if Daniel Boone advances.

LOCAL CONNECTIONS

Among the players on the roster are Bexten’s son, Carter, and Brooks Boehm, the son of Zach and Jessie (Frank) Boehm, of Westphalia.

Carter has accumulated an extensive All-Star résumé of his own. This year’s team is his fifth. The second baseman/catcher played 9U All-Stars twice, first making the team when he was 8 years old. His first 9U team won state; his second lost to Webb City; and his teams have since won championships at 10U, 11U, and now 12U.

His baseball history also includes an early stop in Westphalia. Because much of Jeremy’s family remained in the Folk area and had difficulty traveling to Columbia to watch Carter play, the youngster played league baseball in Westphalia when he was about 5 years old, wearing a Joe’s Market uniform.

Brooks, meanwhile, had difficulty finding a local travel team for the only sport he plays approximately 10 months of the year. His mother, Jessie Boehm, remembers a boy who didn’t need anyone to make him practice. “He’s always been that kid who was outside at night practicing because he wanted to get better,” Jessie said, noting that his father, Zach, takes him to batting cages. At the same time, the family has equipment at home, including Brooks’ own pitcher’s mound, giving him another place to work between practices.

Carter and Brooks were among Daniel Boone’s leading hitters during the tournament, finishing among the team’s top three in the offensive categories. Both hit .600 in the state tournament, and they and two others were the only All-Stars who didn’t strikeout during the entire state run.

HOW IT STARTED

Brooks began playing travel baseball with the Columbia-based Mavericks organization at 9U after his family struggled to find a local travel team.

Coach Bexten suggested that Brooks try out for the Mavericks. Bexten already coached a Mavericks team, although Brooks ultimately earned a spot on another team within the organization.

“Jeremy’s the reason we ended up in Columbia, and looking back now, it was one of the best decisions we could have made for Brooks,” Jessie said.

The move also connected him with Daniel Boone Little League, as the Mavericks and the Little League teams use the same Columbia fields. Brooks began participating in Little League games in addition to his travel schedule, providing more repetitions and more opportunities to play.

The years spent traveling to Columbia have also changed something beyond Brooks’ baseball ability.

At first, playing with athletes outside his home area required an adjustment, but years of tournaments have allowed him to develop chemistry with players from different Mavericks teams and with Bexten’s players. Now, many of those players are simply teammates and friends. “It took a little bit, but now I’m just so used to it,” Brooks said. “I’m just looking forward to all the opportunities to see new teams and all the players.”

Jessie said her son has also developed a habit that transcends whichever uniform someone happens to be wearing. “One thing I love about Brooks is when we go to different tournaments, he’s always making friends wherever he goes,” she said. “He never looks at the other teams like they’re opponents.”

Frequently, Brooks leaves a tournament having made a friend on another team. Later tournaments provide opportunities to meet those same players again.

“He loves to play baseball,” Jessie said, but he also enjoys “getting to go meet other people” and facing different competition.

His baseball relationships in Columbia are about to become even stronger.

After spending his first four seasons with the same team within the Mavericks organization, Brooks tried out for Bexten’s team for the coming season and earned an offer.

The decision had been developing since Brooks played for Bexten during last year’s All-Star season.

Jessie said Brooks grew a strong connection with the coaches and boys from Bexten’s team, and decided that if he had an opportunity to make the switch, he wanted to pursue it. “He worked hard, and he tried out, and received the offer he was hoping for,” Jessie said.

But living in Osage County created an eligibility problem for Brooks to play for the All-Star team.

Daniel Boone’s normal boundaries encompass Boone County, meaning Brooks initially wasn’t eligible for its All-Star teams despite playing in the league.

Little League rules provide an avenue for players who live in an area without an officially sanctioned Little League program to seek permission to play in the nearest sanctioned league. Coaches helped the Boehm family pursue that waiver for Brooks.

It was approved, although Jessie said Brooks still had to wait a year before becoming eligible for an All-Star tryout.

He has now made the team in both seasons he has been eligible.

Brooks pitched the championship game during his first All-Star season last year, helping Daniel Boone complete an undefeated state tournament with a 10-0 victory.

That championship, however, marked the end of the road.

The Little League tournament structure allows advancement toward the regional tournament and Little League World Series at the 12U level. Last year’s team could win Missouri, but it could go no farther.

The players knew what awaited them a year later. “We kept telling Brooks that next year is the year that counts,” Jessie said. “It’s everything he’s been working so hard to be apart of.”

MAKING ANOTHER RUN

This summer, those years of baseball culminated in a dominant state tournament performance. Daniel Boone did not have to play a district tournament because Fort Leonard Wood, the only other sanctioned Little League in its Central Missouri district, did not field a team in the age group. The champions from Missouri’s other four districts, however, had to survive district tournaments to reach state.

With Columbia serving as this year’s state tournament host, Daniel Boone opened against Harrison County and won 13-0. The All-Stars followed with an 11-1 victory over North Kansas City before defeating Webb City 6-0 for the championship.

They finished the tournament 3-0 while outscoring their opponents 30-1.

Bexten has coached for approximately seven years, beginning when his son, Carter, was 6, and has spent the last six years coaching Daniel Boone. Several members of this year’s team have played for him for years, competing not only locally but against high-level competition in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Florida.

That experience left Bexten unsurprised when eight players from his league team earned spots on the All-Star roster. “My team has really seen some high-level pitching, so I’m not surprised that they showed up and were selected,” he said. “I watched the at-bats that our boys took against our starting pitchers and knew we had something special. I told the boys that if we can hit our own pitchers, we will be able to hit anyone. We proved that in the state tourney.”

Facing Webb City’s ace, Brooks drove a pitch over the fence for Daniel Boone’s only home run of the state tournament as the All-Stars won 6-0. Coach Bexten noted that the round-tripper was made more difficult by the USA Baseball bats required in Little League play.

According to his Mavericks statistics, Brooks hit .545 with a .586 on-base percentage. He recorded 23 singles, 14 doubles, seven triples and four home runs while driving in 34 runs. Adding his state-tournament homer gave him five for the year.

“He’s had a good season this year,” Jessie said, though it wasn’t uninterrupted.

Brooks injured his upper left arm during his first Mavericks tournament in April. The family initially feared a dislocated shoulder or another significant injury and had Brooks X-rayed, but the injury proved to be a pulled bicep. He didn’t pitch for approximately a month.

Therapy and continued work eventually got him back onto the mound.

“I feel like he’s come back stronger than ever and was finally back to his full potential by the end of the season,” Jessie said.

Bexten considers Brooks one of Daniel Boone’s top pitchers. On the year, he faced 135 batters, allowing 17 earned runs on 19 hits, with 59 strikeouts and 25 walks, holding his opponents to a .183 batting average.

Being left-handed limits some of his infield options, so when he isn’t pitching, Brooks primarily plays the outfield.

Other pitchers also turned in strong performances during the state tournament. Gavin Ottis worked 3.2 innings in the opening victory over Harrison County, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out five. When he reached his pitch-count limit, Jackson Kovar entered and needed only three pitches — all strikes — to record the final out.

Henry Reid delivered another dominant performance in the championship game against Webb City. Reid worked 5.1 innings, throwing 85 pitches while allowing one hit and one walk and striking out eight.

The current team also carries some Daniel Boone history.

Reid’s uncle played on a Daniel Boone team 20 years ago. Ryan Schmidt, who provides pitching lessons at Daniel Boone for many of the current players, was also a member of that team.

Other team members are Ben Galloway, Ben Mistler, Ben Sublette, Dallas Dodson, Mason Piskulic, McCoy Northweather, Pearson Steinley, and Peyton McLeland.

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE LLWS

Indiana offers Daniel Boone a chance to compete against state champions from throughout the Midwest. Survive that field, and Williamsport awaits.

Brooks is confident in his teammates and coaches as they prepare for regional play, but the magnitude of the latest step has taken some time to absorb. “I don’t think we realized just how much planning and work goes into an opportunity like this,” Jessie said. “I felt a little unprepared with the short turnaround time.”

Brooks has a considerably simpler perspective: “He just loves to play baseball” “while also facing different competition, at different baseball complexes,” Jessie noted.

The prospect of facing state champions from across the Midwest isn’t making him particularly nervous. “I’m probably most excited about the competition, and I’m getting the chance to test our skills against some of the best teams teams in our region,” Brooks said.

Preparing for that stage has involved far more than practices.

Coach Bexten was required to provide ESPN with extensive information about the team, including its formation, state tournament performance, pitching and hitting standouts, and personal information broadcasters could use during games.

For a group of 12-year-olds, that attention creates a different kind of pressure. Bexten has tried to keep his players focused on what put them there.

“You all earned it,” he said. “You’re the best baseball players that I could possibly have for this team, and you guys are great baseball players. And don’t forget that, regardless of the pressure that’s in front of you, regardless of what you’re feeling in your stomach, don’t forget that you’re the best, and go out there and play like it.”

They received something of a preview during the state tournament, when Bexten estimated approximately 300 spectators surrounded the field, lining the fences to watch. The All-Stars responded by scoring in the first inning of all three games.

“So far, they’ve all played pretty loose and free,” Bexten said. “Now we’ll see what it looks like when there’s cameras on them.”

Bexten noted that families would be staying in a hotel for up to a week or longer if they qualify for World Series. “They could really use financial support to allow this experience to be all about baseball and memories instead of how much it’s going to cost,” he said. “Even a $20 or $50 donation helps cover a meal or a room for a night.”

To support these two locals players, their team, and their families while they are on this journey, please consider donating to Daniel Boone Little League via Venmo @daniel-boonell.