WARNER ROBINS -- After a big game, baseball players sometimes think what they did off the field helped make the difference.

To keep the winning spirit alive, ball players may adopt sometimes smelly and sometimes just plain strange habits.

In Florida’s case, the team’s good luck charm is a Barbie doll head. Before play starts, “we all stand around and touch her hair,” said Henry Havre, who plays third base.

Bryce Martin’s mother, Marsha Martin, found the doll in her Happy Meal before the team started its district tournament.

The doll wore a necklace with the initial “S.” Players named her “Star” for their all-star team. They colored her blonde hair red, white and blue, their team colors.

Havre is in charge of Star. He carries her in his backpack. Her pink comb comes with her to each game. Then, she sits on the water cooler in the dugout.

They haven’t lost a game since Star came into their lives.

Though reluctant to admit it, manager Andy Trujeque doesn’t want to break the tradition. He admitted to touching the doll’s hair as well.

“Baseball players are superstitious,” said Trujeque, who remembers not changing socks or undershirts as a college ball player.

North Carolina’s Roman Galaska also isn’t big on doing laundry. He didn’t wash his jersey during the entire state tournament, said his mother, Tammi Galaska, as she sat in the sun during North Carolina’s game against Alabama on Friday.

She said she didn’t envy any of his roommates during the tournament.

“We went home and had enough time to wash clothes” after the state tournament, Galaska said.

Superstitions aren’t for everyone, though. The mothers of the Alabama team don’t want rituals to turn into a disadvantage.

“We try not to get into a head game,” said Angela Shirley, mother of Cale Smith.

The only thing the boys from Alabama might do is not wash their hats.

One good thing about having a doll is it doesn’t stink like unwashed laundry.

However, at least one Florida player feels strange about having a doll in the dugout.

“It’s weird, but ...” Conor Grady said, trailing off with a shrug.

He can’t argue with the scoreboard and Star’s magic.