It seems like a dream. Something out of a movie perhaps. Maybe it’ll become one someday.
The Willcox 12U All-Star team is playing in the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, North Carolina. Willcox, representing the West Region, opens play against the Mid-Atlantic Region at 7 a.m. Sunday on ESPN+.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
Willcox’s population is around 3,200. The teams Willcox beat — swept, actually — in the West Region Tournament last week in San Bernardino, California, come from metropolises by comparison.
Willcox defeated a squad from Dublin, California, twice, to advance to the World Series. Dublin’s population: 72,060.
Before that, Willcox — led by budding-star pitcher Hattie Macumber — shut out Honolulu. Population: 349,913.
In the opening game, Willcox blanked a team from Washoe County, Nevada. Population: 496,745.
“It’s just a little bit shy of a miracle,” said Patrick Macumber, Willcox’s coach and Hattie’s father.
The Willcox Little League 12U All-Star team coaching staff: (from left) manager Patrick Macumber and coaches Dustin Benavides and Paco Aguirre.
Patrick, a former special-ed teacher who’s currently the athletic director at Willcox Middle School, has had moments of disbelief over the past month. They’re rare because he’s been so busy coaching his team from the State Tournament in Cottonwood (also a sweep) through the West Region Tournament in San Bernardino. He’s barely had time to contemplate what his underdog squad has accomplished.
“When I got home and fed my dogs,” Patrick Macumber said, “I just started shaking my head.”
There was little time to think or rest. Willcox closed out the West Region Tournament on Friday, July 26. The team flew to Greenville on Wednesday. Little League provided a charter bus to ferry the girls from Willcox to Phoenix.
“These girls haven’t seen anything like that,” Macumber said. “They’re having one great new experience after another.”
It’s been a whirlwind for Willcox. The team arrived in North Carolina after midnight Eastern Time. Macumber woke them up early for breakfast and practice and to help them get acclimated to the time change.
The Willcox Little League 12U All-Star team poses with the championship banner after winning the West Region Tournament in San Bernardino, California, to advance to the Little League Softball World Series.
The day was filled with fun activities. They included getting uniforms, gear and equipment from Adidas and Easton, all set up in lockers that had each player’s name on them; official team photos and interviews with ESPN; and, in the evening, a group outing to climb rock walls and play arcade games and laser tag.
It’s no wonder that Hattie, 13, fell asleep while she and her father spoke with me via phone from their hotel room in Greenville on Thursday evening. It was after 10 p.m. ET. She was spent.
Besides, she has more work ahead. The girls from Willcox will go as far as Hattie Macumber takes them.
Hattie started playing softball when she was about 4 years old. She fell in love with the sport “when I stepped into the circle for the first time,” she said.
She wasn’t a very good pitcher at first, she admits. But she’s a good athlete — the 5-foot-9 rising eighth-grader also plays volleyball and basketball for Willcox Middle School — and has a good work ethic. Her father also touted her mental toughness.
“She gets in the zone, and she really deals,” he said. “She’s really poised out there. She doesn’t let much get to her.”
Patrick didn’t play baseball growing up. He was a wrestler and later a wrestling coach; Hattie’s older brother, Kash, won an AIA state championship in 2023 and will wrestle this fall at Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Hattie’s development began by playing catch with her dad while he sat on a bucket. She now takes lessons from local coaching legend and Pima County Sports Hall of Famer Kelly Fowler.
The Macumbers live about a half-hour north of Willcox in a house adjacent to the Fleming Thoroughbred Farm, where Hattie’s mother, Wende Fleming Macumber, does office work. It’s about a two-hour drive from their home to Marana for those lessons. That’s a major commitment. But it’s paid off big time. It also helps that Willcox has a four-day school week (no classes on Fridays).
Hattie Macumber dominated the competition in San Bernardino. She threw three shutouts and allowed only one earned run and 13 hits in 25 innings. She struck out 37 batters, walked six and limited the opposition to a .151 batting average.
The Willcox Little League 12U All-Star team checks out the field in San Bernardino, California, during the West Region Tournament. Willcox won the tourney to advance to this week's Little League Softball World Series.
Hattie has a six-pitch repertoire but considers three offerings to be her best: fastball, changeup and rise ball. She ended the West Region Tournament with a strikeout on a nasty breaking pitch.
I asked her to describe her mindset when she’s in the circle.
“Just don’t suck, to be honest,” she said.
There are two more things you need to know about the Willcox 12U All-Star team, which is just the fifth from Southern Arizona to reach the Little League World Series, per AllSportsTucson.com. The first is that it’s not a one-girl show.
Five players batted over .300 in San Bernardino: catcher Jayleen Aguirre (.600), Hattie Macumber (.375), shortstop Josey Benavides (.375), right fielder Daylin Medrano (.375) and third baseman Lilly Williams (.333).
Hattie wouldn’t be as effective as she is in the circle without Jayleen behind the plate.
“With her pitching, you have to have a pretty elite catcher,” Patrick Macumber said. “Jayleen is good with the bat. She’s also a brick wall back there.”
Jayleen was the first player Hattie embraced after Willcox punched its ticket to the World Series.
“I was shocked. I didn’t feel any emotion. I was just standing there like, ‘Whoa,’ ” Hattie said.
“Then I ran up and hugged my catcher, who is also my best friend.”
It wasn’t the first time they’ve celebrated. Willcox had been building up to that moment.
Willcox won the 10U State Tournament in 2022 and the 12U tourney in ’23. That team finished third in San Bernardino.
If you’re not from around here, you might think Willcox, Arizona, is in the middle of nowhere. But this team didn’t come out of nowhere.
Still, in terms of experience and population, Willcox is at a disadvantage against almost everyone it faces in the postseason.
“Some of our girls are second-year players,” Patrick Macumber said. “These other teams are pulling from 400 (players) who’ve been playing all their lives.
“I’m just so proud of this group. I don’t think they know they’re supposed to lose.”
