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The Greater Naples 9- and 10-year-old all-stars got a taste of the big leagues Friday when they loaded up their gear, flew 1,000 miles north and checked into their hotel for a national tournament.

The Greater Naples players start pool play today in the Little League Tournament of State Champions in Ceredo, W.Va., representing Florida as one of 10 teams from the South and Midwest in the field. Despite the grandeur of the event, however, manager Chad Ott told his players it’s just the same game they’ve been playing — and winning — all summer.

“At the end of the day, if you come out and play baseball, play well and play better than your opponent, you’re going to win,” Ott said.

That’s the formula the Greater Naples 9-10s have used to get this far. The team is 13-2 this summer and takes district, sectional and state titles with them to this weekend’s regional tournament.

After becoming the first Greater Naples team at any level to win a sectional championship, Ott’s 9-10s became just the second little league baseball team from Collier County to win a state championship.

“These kids’ trademark is they play six innings and never quit,” Ott said. “Whether they’re up or down, they play like they’ve got a game to win. They’ve done that repetitively.”

Because there is no national tournament or Little League World Series for the 9-10 age group, the Tournament of State Championships is the highest level for the Greater Naples all-stars. The event, in its fourth year, features three days of pool play before a single-elimination tournament starts Tuesday.

Each of the 10 teams plays three pool games. Teams with a 2-1 record or better move on to the single-elimination round. Greater Naples plays Virginia today, Alabama on Sunday and North Carolina on Monday.

The teams arrived in Ceredo on Friday and met at Mitch Stadium in the early evening. All 10 groups of players and coaches were then taken on a parade through the town of less than 2,000 people on the West Virginia-Ohio-Kentucky border.

The Tournament of State Champions features teams from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday.

While all the hoopla and the big stage can intimidate the younger players, Ott said his team was helped by its appearance in the state finals two weeks ago. In the finals in Freeport, Greater Naples went 4-1 and beat Martin County for the league’s first state championship.

“Going to state was something these kids have never experienced,” Ott said. “It was an eye-opener in terms of the quality of baseball played at this level.

“I’m sure (the players) will fully comprehend all this until they show up at the stadium,” the coach continued. “It’s been a wild ride this summer.”