Former WRALL coaches find new places this season

WARNER ROBINS -- Last season, three Warner Robins American Little League coaches started not knowing that in five months, they would be headed to Williamsport, Pa., to coach in some of the biggest games of Little League.

This year, the coaches have found new places on the field.

Buddy Deal is now a coach at Veterans High School for all three baseball teams: varsity, junior varsity and freshmen.

The biggest difference Deal sees in coaching from Little League to high school is the one-on-one time.

“We work on footwork and angles a lot more,” he said of the high school practices.

He predicts that after another two years, the teams at Veterans High will be in the hunt for a state championship.

Once the season ends for high school in April, Deal hopes he will be able to help another team at WRALL.

Shane Williams is focusing on his daughter this season. His son, Logan Williams, who played on last year’s Little League World Series team, is playing travel ball.

His daughter, Olivia Williams, plays on his minor softball league Lady Vipers team, which as of Saturday was 4-0.

“The one thing I like about Little League is the pitching and catching” for softball, Shane Williams said.

For minor league softball, there are no walks. If a pitcher throws four balls, the coach goes to the mound and throws three pitches.

Most of the girls on his team have pitching coaches.

Williams said he goes to his daughter’s lessons and takes notes.

“I have to know what I’m talking about,” he said.

Another important aspect of his softball coaching is being able to talk to Roger Stella, who was the manager of the 2010 Little League Softball World Series championship team from WRALL. Williams talks to Stella at least twice a week to catch up.

The minor league softball program had enough 9- to 10-year-old girls to split the division into East and West this year.

“I attribute that to Roger (Stella) putting softball on the map,” Williams said.

Phillip Johnson, who managed the team last year, is enjoying the season off. His son is playing on a Junior League team.

On WRALL’s opening day, Johnson was with his Southeast team from last year, but he likes not having any responsibility this year.

Though Deal is excited about his new opportunity at Veterans High, he said he misses the camaraderie at WRALL.

“I miss not seeing Jimmy (Dunn) and Phillip and those guys,” he said.

This story was originally published March 28, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Former WRALL coaches find new places this season."