WOODVILLE — Although the record may not show it, times are a-changing for the Wilkinson County baseball program.

This past season, Wilkinson County’s baseball team was just 1-11.

Comprised mostly of younger kids — they started six ninth graders — principal Melvin J. Craige said there just isn’t a lot of interest to play baseball from the students in his area.

He said in order for his baseball program to be successful his kids need to play early and often.

“Where the baseball program is now, the only way it’s going to get better is to have a summer league, and in some cases, a fall league, so the kids can play year round,” Craige said. “We need to get them started at age 6.”

Part of the reason there is a lack of interest in baseball, Craige said, is because kids are playing only one sport these days.

“The problem I see with kids today is they want to specialize. In schools today, you can not specialize (in one sport). Most kids when I grew up played all sports,” Criage said. “Kids (today) want to specialize. Baseball is a sport a lot of kids aren’t taking interest in. I try to tell them that it’s the sport that will pay them the most money.”

If anyone knows what it takes for a high school baseball team to win, Craige does.

Craige, who just completed his second year at the school, is no stranger to baseball, having not only pitched in (and won) a state championship at Sunshine High in Sunshine, La., but also played for Southern University and had a tryout with the Kansas City Royals in 1974.

He said what made his high school team successful was their feeder program, in which kids grew up playing baseball.

Similarly, the first step for turning the Wildcats program around is giving the kids more opportunities to play.

In some ways, it’s like a vicious cycle for the Wilkinson County baseball program.

In order to get a successful program you need to play more often. One way of doing that is playing in summer and fall leagues. However, if the interest isn’t there, you can’t field enough teams to start a league.

Wilkinson County head coach and athletic director John Moore echoed his principal’s thoughts on how to turn the program around.

“It’s going to take some time to get to the level where we can be competitive day in and day out,” Moore said. “They don’t play in leagues in the summer. They need to start playing when they’re younger to get them more involved.”

Another problem, Moore said, facing the Wildcats is the fact their program is relatively new. After being dormant for 20 years, Moore said the program was resurrected seven or eight years ago.

As a result, this past season the Wildcats started six ninth graders and even had several seventh and eighth graders on the team.

“This year we had a real good shortstop, Anthony Sims, who would have made a difference in the field.” However, Moore said Sims —who was a senior — had to play catcher due to a lack of options at the position.

Despite the team tallying just one win in the past two seasons, Craige said he’s OK with the program’s direction.

“I’m not satisfied with the program of old, but I’m satisfied in the direction they’re heading in.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with eight or nine athletic directors, and I’m very pleased to work with (Moore).”

Craige went on to say that both success in both athletics and academics go hand in hand.

“We’re promoting a balance of academics and athletics. You promote a balance of academics first and athletics second,” the second-year principal said. “But once you achieve a balance on your campus, things will really move in the right direction.”

Although Craige and Moore have discussed the possibility of starting a summer league, nothing has been finalized. Craige said they were going to try and get one started for this summer.

“They’re looking at playing this summer, trying to get some of the younger kids, middle schoolers, to play. That’s where you’ve got to start,” Craige said.

If they’re successful in starting a summer league, Craige said the next step would possibly be to start a fall league as well, so the athletes could play year round.