From T-ball to the big time

When Gavin Martin was 5 years old he pitched to the living room couch in his grandparents' home.

When he hit a crease in the couch he considered it a good pitch.

"He's done it ever since he could pick up a ball," his mother, Kim Martin, said. "He plays outside and threw a tennis ball against our house. He's really motivated. He asks his dad, 'Can we go outside and play catch?' He's always as a child been interested in baseball."

That interest eventually led to 10-year-old Gavin pitching in the Little League World Series in San Juan, Puerto Rico, last week.

He and 13 of his teammates on the Farmington Cardinals Willie Mays team played in the five-day tournament in Puerto Rico representing the Southwest Region.

It was an opportunity for which Martin and his team worked hard.

Gavin Martin started playing T-ball when he was three years old and later moved up to Little League baseball in Farmington.

"Gavin, he does a lot of the stuff by himself and that's what makes a difference," said his father, Rocky Martin. "What makes it even greater is when he does go out and throw to the wall by himself, he's bettering himself and not even knowing it."

Gavin's work ethic persuaded the city champion Cardinals to draft him for the state tournament after his original team took fourth in the city league tournament in June.

At the state tournament, he hit a homerun in early July. After they won the tournament they moved onto the regional tournament in Santa Fe, N.M., where they won again in late July, which got the team the ticket to Puerto Rico.

Kim Martin said knowing the hard work her son put into the sport made it an emotional experience for her.

"Playing in Puerto Rico was just a great opportunity for us as a family to take him there, and as a mother you're proud of your child," she said. "These kids worked hard to get to where they're at. It's hard to express your words."

With community support, raffle tickets, Navajo Taco sales and other fundraisers, the 14 players and their coaches made their way to Puerto Rico.

Gavin Martin also has special support from his family. His maternal grandparents - Lily Touchin from Bitter Springs, Ariz., and Kenny Touchin from Coppermine, Ariz. - often watch Gavin and after school accompanied him to practice, along with his older sister Autumn Martin.

He also got support form his paternal parents Patrick and Diane Martin.

Gavin, his mother and father left on Aug. 11 and returned Aug. 16. It was a new experience for all of them and for Gavin it was his first plane ride.

"It was a life lesson for him I think," Rocky said. "It was just a huge deal for him to fly the whole time. He actually had a rough time flying the first time.

"You take those life lessons, do it, deal with it and learn from it. That's what all these experiences are about," he said.

The Cardinals won their first game against Michigan, 5-1. They later lost to eventual champions the Puerto Rico National team, 8-0. Georgia shut them out in a game that sent them to the consolation bracket.

In the game for fifth and sixth place, the Cardinals lost to Arizona, 11-9, in a game that had the Cardinals up 9-3 going into the fourth inning.

Rocky Martin said it was a close one for Gavin and his teammates but not a hard loss as they accomplished so much just to get there.

"To go there with just 14 kids basically from Farmington was huge. We realized that," he said. "We knew our kids could play but they did really good against these huge cities. They got beat bad one game but they did exceptionally well. They did really good."

The Martins said it's all thanks to the Gavin's head coach, Jeff Graham, and, most importantly, to the kids themselves.

Even with the opportunity Gavin and teammates got, Rocky said they are still a bunch of 10-year-olds.

"Being as young as they are at 10 they'll never forget it," he said. "The baseball part of it was good but the friendship and time spent together is great."

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