"Forty seconds," yelled Gaffney Braves all-star coach Jott Blackwell as he stood Monday evening near first base on a county recreation field.

Three Gaffney all-star baseball players began the long sprint around the ballpark.

Blackwell and coach Blake Wood called out the remaining time, spurring their charges onto a faster time. The conditioning runs were all aimed at finding the extra edge towards this Sunday's championship game for the Cal Ripken League state tournament.

The Gaffney Braves are competing with the Gaffney Hustlers and Blacksburg for a trip to the Southeast regional in Staunton, Va. These 11- and 12-year-old all-star baseball players are among 11 teams involved in the Cal Ripken state tournament at the Cherokee County Youth Sports Complex.

"We've had a real good team effort. We picked 13 good ball players for the team who get along well together and have good attitudes," Blackwell said. "We have a really strong pitching staff. The hardest task is figuring out who is going to play where. Our bench players are just as good as our starters."

The tournament runs from Thursday until Sunday. Teams have traveled from as far away as Charleston to compete in the state tournament.

Gaffney Hustlers play Blacksburg Thursday at 8 p.m. in a rivalry game between the county recreation baseball leagues. The Gaffney Braves at the same time will play against the winner of an earlier game between Boiling Springs and Anderson.

The little league coaches had a month to take a group of all-star players and mold them into a team.

To build team chemistry, Gaffney Hustlers coach Jerry Byars treated his players to pizza Wednesday evening before the tournament.

He calls his team's biggest challenges are adjusting from wooden to aluminum bats and simply learning to play together.

The Gaffney Hustlers are an offensive-minded lineup with a deep bullpen.

"We have good, solid hitters. Four of our starters batted over .500 and three were just off .500," Byars said. "We have good pitching depth with three catchers and five pitchers."

Byars shares the same interest as all coaches involved with the state tournament.

He wants his players to do well and have a good time playing baseball on the way to the championship.

"I'm optimistic about it," Byars said. "This team plays with heart and hustle. I'll take heart and hustle everyday."