CRESTVIEW — North Okaloosa County will be well represented Thursday night in the Pensacola Sports Association Subway Series All-Star Baseball Game.
The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on the University of West Florida's Pensacola campus.
CrestviewHigh School has an East team high of six players. Davis Champion Dakota Dean, Roman Donofro, Tyler Henderson, Tate Sweatt and Seth Thomason will represent the Bulldogs. They’ll be joined Baker School’s Adam Crowson and Laurel Hill School’s Boomer Simmons.
Dean and Sweatt, along with Niceville’s Nick Junger will represent the East team in the home run derby prior to the game.
Also on the team are players from around Okaloosa and Santa Rosa Counties.
The team coached by Baker’s Scott Johnson and Corey McSween.
Johnson said the Bulldogs deserved to have the most players on the team.
“It was a very good year (winning District 2-6A and beating Tate in the region quarterfinals) for Crestview,” he said. “They have more players on the team than anybody, but rightfully so.
“They were, in the two counties we have, the premier team. They were the ones that did the best and all of their guys belong.”
Johnson smiled at the thought of all the talent he has to choose from.
“The first thing we said after we had the first day of practice is, ‘If we had this team right here we’d still be playing (in the playoffs),’” Johnson said. “It’s a good group of kids. They are very talented and well-motivated.
“It’s going to be fun. It’s going to kind of be like I’m a college coach again.”
Some players like, Sweatt, hope the all-star game will help them secure a college scholarship.
“It’s very big,” Sweatt said. “I’m going to go out there and show the scouts what I’ve got and just put it all on the line.”
Sweatt said he’s also looking forward to playing with his Bulldog teammates one last time.
“I just want to go out with a bang with them,” Sweatt said. “I’ve played with most of them since I was in T-ball. I just want to do good with the last time we play together.”
Although Simmons played his high school ball at a small school, he’s not intimidated by being around players from 5A and 6A schools.
“It’s not much of a new experience,” he said. “I play with a lot of them in travel ball and stuff like that.
“It’s a good experience to get to play with a lot of good players from around the area.”
The game will be a reunion of sorts for Johnson, who coached at Choctawhatchee High School three years before taking the Baker job last summer.
Johnson will be reunited with Choctaw’s Bryan Baker, Taylor Fought and Dustin Berrong.
“To get to coach those guys again is special,” he said. “I was there three years with them. When I left Choctaw there was never an issue with a player or a parent or anything like that, so I was so happy to get to see those guys again.”
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Locals to play in all-star game