YBBL 16U All-Stars fall in Southern California state championship game

Two losses on Saturday ended up sending the squad home, but for head coach Nick Johnson, it proved to be an amazing experience - 13 On Your Side's Luis Lopez reports

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - It's not often a coach gets to mentor the kids he would typically compete against.

But for Yuma Baseball League head coach Nick Johnson he got a chance to do just that over the summer.

"The best coaching experience I've ever had, having these kids come in, the amount of buy-in these guys had, it was almost instantaneous," Johnson said.

That experience came to an end over the weekend, as Johnson's 16U all-star team lost in the championship round of the Southern California state tournament.

"It's baseball and sometimes it just happens," Johnson said.

Johnson, who is also the coach of the Yuma Criminals baseball team, got to lead a squad of the best players from the Yuma area.

"You don't really know them, you know who they are, the kid who makes that really good play or that kid that always gets a hit in a clutch situation, then you get to coach them for a little while, and you get to build a relationship with them," Johnson said.

It's the connections formed during the season that has been one of Johnson's favorite parts about this opportunity.

"It goes so much deeper than just wins and losses, it goes so much beyond that, it comes down to kids that go out there and love the game, if I get to be a part of that, I mean there's nothing better," Johnson said.