The Blythewood Minors – front: Ryan Watts, Landon Smith, Sammy Franklin, Jackson Bottar, Alex Myers, Evan Todd; middle: Landon Penfield, Jeb Britt, Miller Stuck, Jack Sanderson, Harrison Collins, John Rollings; back: coaches Ken Britt, Les Penfield and Buzzy Myers.
LAUREL, MISS. (Aug. 18, 2016) – The impressive run by the Blythewood Minors Dixie Youth baseball team came to an end last week after they ran up against a tough Texas team in the Dixie Youth World Series in Laurel, Miss. The Minors returned home with a third-place finish.
“We had a good run,” Minors head coach Ken Britt said. “We lost to Texas twice. They went on to win it all. They were a good team.”
Britt said the hot hitting of his 9- and 10-year olds, which propelled the team through the District and State tournaments undefeated, cooled off in Mississippi against some tough pitching from Texas. Britt said that while his Minors hit plenty of hard shots in the series, those shots were either right at fielders or fielders made incredibly athletic catches. Texas, meanwhile, hit balls that seemed to fall into just the right spots at just the right time.
“That’s baseball,” Britt said.
The Minors are the first Blythewood Dixie Youth team to make it to the World Series, and Britt said that in spite of the third-place finish it was a rewarding experience for the team.
“We didn’t win it all, but we had a great time and a great experience,” Britt said. “Dixie Youth does a great job, Laurel, Miss. did a great job hosting and we had a terrific host family that made us feel welcome. We gave it a good run.”
