By NICHOLAS KIMBALL

Staff writer

CVL Stars, composed of area ballplayers age 10 and younger, made it to the championship game Sunday of the state Cal Ripken tournament in Hillsboro.

At stake was a trip to Denver to represent Kansas in a regional tournament.

CVL ended up losing the game but still winning the bid to Denver.

McPherson beat CVL 10-0 in a game cut short by a mercy rule.

However, McPherson declined to accept the regional bid. As runner-up, CVL will represent Kansas this week in Denver.

“McPherson is more of a travel club and doesn’t play a lot of Cal Ripkin ball, so they deferred to the CVL team,” tournament director Nathan Duell said.

CVL knew that merely reaching the title game would qualify the team to go to Denver.

“I knew McPherson wasn’t going to go on,” CVL coach Cody Schafer said. “They are not a Babe Ruth affiliated team, so they could not go on. So I knew once we made the championship game we were moving on.”

Schafer didn’t tell his players, however.

“The kids didn’t know, “ he said. “I didn’t want them to not try, I just wanted them to play to win.”

McPherson, which has traveled all over this summer, was just too much for them, however.

In the top of the fourth inning, with McPherson leading 6-0, Grady Rierson stepped to the plate and smacked an infield hit that drove in three of his teammates and allowed him to reach third.

McPherson’s next batter, Steele Koehn, hit a single, driving in Rierson and ending the run-ruled game.

Rierson’s grandparents, Jazell and Dennis Bersuch, were among many who made the trip to Hillsboro to support visiting teams.

It’s what they’ve been doing all summer long — following the McPherson team wherever it might play.

Rierson’s mom, Courtney, was “super proud” of her son driving in three runs and scoring the final run of the game.

“He is a strong hitter and performs well in clutch moments,” she said. “It’s been a long summer and season — exceptional, and really fun to watch.”

Her husband is the teams’ manager.

Koehn’s mom, Jessica, also was proud of her son for driving in the final run.

“It’s been an amazing season — second state title,” she said.

The team traveled all over for games, playing in Wichita, Goddard, and Great Bend before coming to Hillsboro.

The team finished the season 40-3, but it wasn’t the only one with followers in Hillsboro.

Cottonwood Falls resident Sondra Butter attended to cheer on her son, Ethan. So did her father, Steve Schlup.

“They sure had a blast,” Butter said.

Before tournament games began, Tabor baseball coach Mark Sandiford instructed a clinic in which players were grouped with players from other teams.

As Kansas’s representative at the regionals in Denver, the Stars hit the road Tuesday, planning to check in at 2:30 p.m. in Denver.

“We are going to go see Rockies and Red Sox Tuesday evening,” Schafer said.

Opening ceremonies will be today, followed by something called Bambino Buddy Ball.

That’s where players are paired with special-needs buddies. Players in wheelchairs run the bases and try to throw out runners.

“We have some really great athletic kids who know the game and can play the game,” Schafer said. “We have a shot to do something that hasn’t been done in this area before — a shot to win regionals and go on to the Little League World Series. Nobody on the team, coaches or players, has gotten to experience this yet.”

As a kid, Schafer played on a team that took second in the state twice for ages 12 and 13.

“It’s going to be cool to see what I may have missed as a kid,” he said.

CVL Stars’ games can be viewed on a free app, Gamechanger. The Stars will play Thursday through Saturday.