PEARL &8212; It&8217;s a good thing the folks who selected the MPSA All-Star rosters picked Huntington catcher Ples Arthur when they picked pitcher Huston Eliser.

Had Arthur not been chosen, Eliser said, pity the poor soul whose job was to catch the Hounds&8217; right-hander on a grand stage like this.

&8220;I&8217;m not taking anything away from the other catchers, but catching me ain&8217;t no easy job,&8221; Eliser admitted. &8220;I&8217;m really loving it that Ples is up here with me. He knows what to expect.&8221;

That will make things easier today when the two suit up for the South squad in the MPSA All-Star Game at 10 a.m. today at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Eliser threw to Arthur all season long while he came up with some big starts down the stretch for a team that made an improbable run to the state championship series.

A new catcher, the two reason, might not know what to do. Or have trouble remaining in the squatting position behind the plate.

&8220;He probably would (be hard),&8221; Arthur said. &8220;It&8217;s just like something new &8212; like your first day to catch somebody. Once you&8217;ve been catching somebody for a while, it&8217;s very easy. You know where he likes to throw and what he throws the best. He&8217;s had his good games and bad games like everybody else.&8221;

The two are among the five from the Miss-Lou participating in today&8217;s All-Star events. The South squad in the Class A game will also include WCCA standouts T-Ray Deville and Blake Fontenot, and Rams head coach Ray Olive will be head coach.

In the Class AA-AAA All-Star game at 1 p.m. today, Timmy Foster of Adams Christian and Jeffrey DeLee of Centreville Academy will suit up for the South. Brookhaven Academy third baseman Ryan Vanderslice, a Natchez native, will join the pair.

&8220;It&8217;s an honor to be here, and we&8217;re looking forward to it,&8221; Olive said. &8220;They&8217;re trying real hard, working real hard and doing everything we ask them to do. They all seem to be good kids, and we&8217;re having fun with them.

&8220;Huston is just a solid baseball player all the way around. I didn&8217;t get to see him pitch this year, but I like him on the mound. When he pitches, I&8217;ll probably have Ples back there.&8221;

It would be a nice way to finish a senior season for Eliser that he or others didn&8217;t think would turn out the way it did.

The Hounds came into the season putting the bulk of the pitching duties on left-hander Trey Brasher and were in the market for a No. 2 pitcher after Jacob Bonnette graduated. Trey Corbett was the first choice, but arm problems kept him from really stepping into that role.

Eliser, who had pitched sparingly as a junior, figured he&8217;d have to step up and do it. From the middle of the season on &8212; he points to the Trinity game in Natchez as being significant &8212; he turned in good outings for a team that needed them in the playoffs.

He didn&8217;t have blazing speed or a curveball that dropped off the table. But he was consistent and just battled on the mound.

&8220;From last year, I couldn&8217;t throw strikes,&8221; Eliser said. &8220;This year me and my dad went up to the ball park, and I must have been up there an hour or two after every practice throwing at the cage to a little box I had marked with tape. Or Dad would have his glove somewhere, and I&8217;d have to hit it.

&8220;Mitch helped me out a lot. He told me it&8217;s more mental than physical ability. He told me I had the physical ability to do it. I had the big game at Trinity, the big Sylva Bay game and the 10-inning game at Porters Chapel. I kind of had to prove to myself I could do it.&8221;

Eliser said he may get the start on the mound today, but Olive noted the makeup of the roster allows so much flexibility that it&8217;s too early to call anything. Deville will get in in outfield, and Fontenot will likely check in at third base.

From there, the coach said, it&8217;s anyone&8217;s guess.

&8220;This will be the toughest lineup you&8217;ll ever put together,&8221; Olive said. &8220;I&8217;ve heard about it. I didn&8217;t realize how difficult it was to take 18 All-Stars and figure out where to play them. I&8217;m looking at six shortstops and four or five catchers. But they&8217;re all good athletes and good ball players, so it&8217;ll all work out.&8221;

Today&8217;s games, too, are chances for players to give that last effort at trying to attract someone&8217;s eye and gain a spot on somone&8217;s roster. Foster, who already signed with Southern Miss, doesn&8217;t have to worry about that and is up there this week for only two simple reasons.

Have fun and play baseball.

&8220;I pretty much played with them or against them,&8221; Foster said of his South teammates. &8220;We&8217;re all pretty close. I knew everyone they had except one from Presbyterian Christian. I played with (Vanderslice) when we were young. I want to do real well in this. I want to have a good lasting impression.&8221;

Arthur said the game will also drive home the fact that it&8217;s the last game ever for just about everyone involved. It&8217;s for that reason that no one will hold anything back, and the opportunity to do it in a park like Trustmark is just a bonus.

&8220;A lot of us want to win,&8221; he said. &8220;It&8217;ll be our last game. The South hasn&8217;t won it in a long time. It&8217;s sad, and I wish I could go back. All the times you didn&8217;t do your best or didn&8217;t work as hard, you could redo it.&8221;