Over 250 players showed off talents at weekend tourney

TUCSON, Ariz. — The lanky teenage right-hander from Gahanna, Ohio stood on the same mound used by a pair of Cy Young Award winners, went into his windup and threw a fastball that bore in on the batter.

A radar gun located on a screen-protected table behind home plate registered the speed of the pitch and several feet behind the table, behind the backstop, a hand-held digital camera captured the moment.

“When your kid is on the mound, you are a little more nervous than if it was somebody else’s kid out there,” Steve Curl said. “But when you think about how large this country is, and how many kids there are from one tip to the other, it’s exciting to have your son selected to participate in an event like this.”

With a wild imagination, Ryan Curl, a senior at St. Francis Desales, could have put himself in the shoes of Diamondbacks pitchers Randy Johnson or Brandon Webb, both of whom have thrown pitches off the Field 2 mound at the Kino Sports Complex, the Spring

Training home of the D-backs and White Sox.

But on this crisp mid-January Sunday morning, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Curl, who primarily plays center field for his high school team, was focused on throwing strikes and having fun with some of his peers who, someday, just might be playing in the Major Leagues.

That is the bottom-line goal of all 254 high school players who were invited to participate in the Under Armour Pre-Season All-America Tournament, powered by Baseball Factory/Team One….

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