Armstrong: Dixie Junior Boys earn state championship
By Bruce Armstrong
I love all-star baseball. My best memories of my 20 years of coaching are the state tournaments in which my teams competed. The emotion and pride of representing your home town in a state championship game is a very special moment and should be a goal of every coach and player.
Two Hope Mills all-star teams had great success last week in state tournament competition.
The Dixie Junior Boys (13 and under) all-stars lost their opening game but displayed championship character by advancing through several elimination games to a state championship matchup with the host team, Brunswick County. With the home crowd cheering them on, Brunswick took an early lead. Hope Mills battled back to tie the game at 4-4 at the end of seven innings of regulation play. In the top of the ninth inning, J.C. Guerrero hit a home run to give Hope Mills a 5-4 lead. Pitcher Logan Haines shut out Brunswick County in the bottom of the ninth for the state championship victory. Haines pitched the last seven innings and allowed only one Brunswick run while striking out 13 batters.
The state champion Dixie Junior Boys are led by manager Jeff Morrow and assistant coaches Scott Cribb and Jamie Pate. In addition to Guerrero and Haines, the team includes Tyler Lord, Takoma Williams, Logan Hales, Gatlin Pate, Michael Ray, Johnathan Blount, John Ortiz, Garrett Johnson and Steven Hutsell.
The Hope Mills Junior Boys will advance to the World Series in Dothan, Ala., beginning July 31. Their first game will be against the Texas champion. This is the second consecutive year that Hope Mills has won the Junior Boys state title.
All of the Hope Mills girls softball teams played well at their state tournaments in Cherryville. The 7- and 8-year-old Dixie Darlings coached by Jim Nelson, Jason Deal and Shannon Powell won two games before being eliminated.
The 9- and 10-year-old Dixie Angels coached by Roger Jenkins, Jody Townsend and Tom Rawald had one victory.
The 13- to 15-year-old South Cumberland Dixie Belles coached by Chris Jackson, Erik Plesser and Bonnie Jackson had two victories.
The 11- and 12-year-old Dixie Ponytails all-stars from Hope Mills had a great state tournament with a heartbreaking ending. They won their first four games to be the only undefeated team still playing. For the state championship, they faced a Burgaw team that they had previously defeated 5-1. Burgaw having that loss needed to defeat Hope Mills twice. In the first game Burgaw defeated Hope Mills 2-0 to set up the championship game. In a great pitchers' duel Burgaw won the state championship by a score of 2-1.
The Hope Mills Ponytails pitching staff of Maddy Wetherholt, Jordan Dean, Aniya Bilal and Nakota Bullard gave up only eight runs in six games. In addition to those pitchers, the team included Morgan Clark, Molly Gaskins, Viviana Martinez, Taylor Simison, Arianna Smith, Kiera Smith, Katelynn Stovall and Natalia Weindel. The Ponytails coaching staff was manager Julian Ogden and assistant coaches John Stewart and Alisa Stovall.
I coached a team that lost a state championship by one run. I know the pain of coming so close to your goal and falling one run short. The coaches and players of the state-runner-up Ponytails should take great pride in what they accomplished. Their home town is very proud of them, and they can enjoy many more victories together in the future.
Let's all support our two state championship teams as they pursue a World Series championship in "O"Zone (12-and-under) and Junior Boys (13 and under).
See you at the games.
Bruce Armstrong is a lawyer who lives in Hope Mills. He can be reached at LawyerArmstrong@aol.com.