LAND O'LAKES - Scott Hilgenberg is counting on history repeating itself.
The Land O'Lakes National manager thinks his Major baseball team has the potential to match or surpass last year's Land O'Lakes Junior squad that became the first in the league's 32-year history to come within one victory of a World Series appearance.
Land O'Lakes opens the District 13 all-star tournament Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Antioch at Temple Terrace, and seven players return from the team that went 2-2 last season.
"It's like the Junior team last year - it wasn't one player who carried it," Hilgenberg said. "It was somebody different every day and that's the way we're looking at it.
"If we win this district, I think you're going to see a confidence build where there's no one who's going to be able to beat us."
Land O'Lakes has two Major baseball teams in the all-star series for the second straight season after splitting into two divisions due to an increase in teams. Last year, the league had 12 Major teams and this season there were 10.
Land O'Lakes American plays Saturday at 10 a.m. against East Point at Temple Terrace.
There is a familiarity among Land O'Lakes National players that goes beyond the seven returners - Ray Clark, J.J. Downum, Charlie Fischer, Michael Hamilton, Curt Hilgenberg (the manager's son), Charlie Neely and Eric Price. Most of the team has been coached by or attended baseball camps run by Hilgenberg, a former minor-league catcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization.
Moreover, they all are aware of Hilgenberg's attention to detail.
"We stress fundamentals," Hilgenberg said. "(At Tuesday's) practice we worked on rundowns from the defensive standpoint for an hour.
"It's little things like that; rundowns, going through first-and-third situations and knowing where they need to be."
Hilgenberg is not alone in his belief that Land O'Lakes could have another all-star team capable of making a strong postseason run. Count league president Joe Garrison among the believers.
"That team was made to do that," Garrison said of last year's Junior club that won district, sectional and state championships. "We've got a couple of teams we think have as much potential to do that."
Garrison included Land O'Lakes' Junior softball team in that mix.
That squad has seven players - Autumn Getz, Ashley Goldsborough, Sara Ippolito, Kailey Kuhl, Keica Schiffer, Jacqueline Tetlow and Tristin Trottier - from the Yankees, who were 18-2 in the regular season and were runners-up in the District 13 President's tournament.
"Without a doubt, it'll help us," said Land O'Lakes Junior softball manager Steve Goldsborough, Ashley's father. "We know what they can do."
