A few weeks ago, the Sun-Gazette released its yearly all-star baseball team.

When the team was being assembled, I remember telling my colleagues it was a shame we couldn't see this team in action because it would be a lot of fun seeing what kind of damage it could do.

And while it's not the Sun-Gazette all-star team that will play in Exton starting Sunday, it looks like I'm receiving as close to that wish as one could hope for.

A deep and talented group of Lycoming County all-stars will compete for the Big League state championship starting Sunday as District 12 tries continuing its statewide dominance in the 16-18 year-old age group. District 12 captured last year's state title and has done so in 13 of the 14 years since it first started competing.

Every year District 12 is loaded-but this is one of its best teams, yet.

All 17 players, who played scholastically for Williamsport, Montoursville, Loyalsock, Montgomery and South Williamsport, have either been part of state, district or league champions. All 17 have played in a district championship. All 17 have been Sun-Gazette all-stars in some capacity.

Now these former rivals have joined forces and will try building on a strong tradition that usually continues deep into August with runs to the Big League World Series. District 12 finished second in the world earlier this decade, while the West End 15 year olds, many who are on this team, reached the Babe Ruth World Series championship three years ago.

It's not hard to imagine this year's team making a similar run. This is a talented group, but it also is a tough-minded team comprised of players who know all about big-game pressure and who have excelled in big games throughout their scholastic and youth careers. Three players, Bob Donato (Bucknell), Vince Molesky (Mount St. Mary's) and Kurt Wertz (Towson) are already playing Division I or will be playing Division I baseball, while a few others on the team have Division I potential.

Williamsport and Loyalsock are the most represented teams with six former Millionaires and six former or current Lancers on the roster. All six Millionaires started for Williamsport in 2008 when it captured the District 2-4 Class AAAA championship. Tony Gotshall, Nick Keener, Jon Taddeo and Jared Mertes helped Williamsport rebound from a 2-6 start this past season to go 13-8 and reach the district semifinals where it lost by just a seventh-inning run in the semifinals to eventual state quarterfinalist Wyoming Valley West.

All six Loyalsock players started over the last two years, helping the Lancers capture the 2008 Class AA state championship and the 2009 District 4 championship. During that time, the Lancers won 44 games and reached the state semifinals again last month.

Joel Worthington and Bobby Ulrich were part of a terrific four-year run at Montgomery in which the Red Raiders reached new heights. During that time, Montgomery won its first District 4 Class A championship, played in two district finals, won a Mid-Penn championship and reached four straight district semifinals.

Wertz and Noah Barrett enjoyed similar strong success at South Williamsport, helping the Mounties win the Mid-Penn Division II 2008 championship and making sure they remained a fixture in the District 4 Class AA title picture. That duo was instrumental in helping South go 3-1 against Loyalsock the last two years.

Montoursville's Vince Molesky completes the roster and is coming off a stellar season in which he overpowered teams on the mound and led the Warriors in virtually every major offensive category.

Molesky is just one of many powerful pitchers District 12 has. There is no true ace on this squad because the staff if full of aces. Kelly led the area with 12 wins this past season while Molesky, Keener, Cozza and Worthington were not too far behind. Barrett came on strong late in the season and threw a complete-game shutout against Loyalsock. Noyalis was effective as Loyalsock's closer and Gotshall and Taddeo pitched well when called upon.

Look at all the key baseball categories and this team has it all. Now what it wants most of all is a world championship.

The quest starts Sunday and whether it ends with the ultimate prize is unknown. What local fans do know is this - it should be fun seeing this team play.

-Masse may be reached at cmasse@sungazette.com