After a perfect 6-0 sweep of the South Carolina Diamond Youth Baseball (DYB) Championship tournament, Blythewood Youth Baseball League’s youngest all-stars, from its Rookie Ball division, officially became Team South Carolina.
The 6U Blythewood team joined nine other teams to battle for the World Series title last weekend in Dunn, NC. Blythewood battled through the heat to defeat two teams but were eliminated from play on Sunday against Louisiana.
Following Opening Ceremonies on Thursday, July 24, the boys faced two teams on Friday for pool play.
Pool Play
Blythewood opened play in familiar fashion as they downed North Carolina 17-7 on Friday. After a short break, they faced Texas for their second game of the day.
Team Texas got went up 1-0 in the top of the first inning to take their first lead of the game.
Blythewood plated two in the bottom of the frame off of RBIs from Cooper Olver, who doubled up the middle, and Zeb Davis, who doubled to center.
A productive second inning put Texas up 6-3. They extended the lead 8-3 in the top of the fourth. Blythewood scored two to narrow the lead, but Texas added two in the top of the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Down 5-12 in their last at bat, Blythewood couldn’t overcome the deficit and took a 12-7 loss in pool play to Texas. Texas would go on to claim the DYB World Series later in the tournament.
Olver, Nathan Bryant, Remington Surfield, Spencer Jasper, and Zeb Davis all doubled in the loss. Carver Dixon and Davis led with two RBIs each.
Bracket Play
Saturday’s games were pushed back three hours because of the heat. Blythewood faced a tough Tennessee team at 4 p.m. on Saturday to open bracket play.
The Blythewood team tallied 17 hits in the game, but fell short with a 12-7 final. The loss put Blythewood in an elimination game against Virginia.
Zeb Davis led the All-Stars with four RBIs. He went 2-3 on the day. Remington Surfield, Davis, Cooper Olver, Gavin Zeloof, Spencer Jasper, and Nathan Bryant each collected two hits for the SC team.
In their first win-or-go-home game, Blythewood dominated at the plate. They put up 21 hits and 17 runs in just three innings to eliminate Virginia from tournament play.
Cooper Olver led the Blythewood offense with four RBIs on three hits, including an in the park homer and a double. Keegan Green, Olver, and Spencer Jasper all went 3-3 on the day. Jasper had two doubles. Gavin Zeloof, Nathan Bryant, Cooper Laney, and Remington Surfield each collected multiple hits. Dixon, Zeloof, Green and Bryant also had doubles in the win.
The win left Blythewood to play another day – Sunday in another elimination bout, this time against Louisiana.
Despite collecting 17 hits to Louisiana’s 11, Blythewood suffered an 11-10 loss on Sunday to end their tournament run.
Blythewood got on the board in the top of the first after Zeb Davis singled to center, Remington Surfield doubled to center and Nathan B doubled to left, each scoring a run. They extended their early lead with two runs in the top of the second thank to RBI singles by Cooper Laney and Hudson Glass.
Down 6-1, Louisiana rallied in the bottom of the fourth to score four runs and narrow Blythewood’s lead to 6-5. Blythewood put up four in the top of the sixth to distance themselves 10-5.
In the bottom of the fifth, Louisiana flipped the game on its head, scoring six runs on five hits to take the lead 11-10. They held Blythewood scoreless in the top of the sixth to clinch the win.
Blythewood collected 17 hits in the game. Zeb Davis, Carter Knudson, and Remington Surfield each drove in two runs for the Blythewood team. Spencer Jasper, Cooper Olver and Hudson Glass all had multiple hits.
The loss eliminated Blythewood from tournament play. Louisiana advanced to defeat the host team, Stanley NC, but were eliminated after a 13-3 loss to Texas in the semifinals.
Texas went on to defeat Tennessee 18-9 to claim the DYB 6U title.
TX – 1-5-0-3-3-3 – 12, 24, 1
SC – 2-1-0-2-0-2 – 7, 14, 0
SC: Keegan G 1-3. Spencer J 3-3. Cooper O 1-3, 2B, RBI. Zeb D 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI. Remington S 2-3, 2B, RBI. Carter K 1-3. Nathan B 2-3, 2B, RBI. Carver D 1-2, 2 RBI. Hudson G 1-2.
SC – 0-1-3-0-3-0 – 7, 17, 0
TN – 6-2-0-4-0-X – 12, 22, 0
SC: Keegan G 1-4. Spencer J 2-3. Cooper O 2-2. Zeb D 2-3, 2B, 4 RBI. Remington S 2-3, 2B, RBI. Cater K 1-3, RBI. Nathan B 2-3, 2B, RBI. Carver D 1-3. Gavin Z 2-3. Cooper L 1-3. Hudson G 1-3.
VA – 2-0-0-X-X-X – 2, 6, 0
SC – 7-4-6-X-X-X – 17, 21, 0
SC: Keegan G 3-3, RBI. Spencer J 3-3, 2 RBI. Cooper O 3-3, 2 RBI. Zeb D 1-3, RBI. Remington S 2-2. Carter K 1-2, RBI. Nathan B 2-2. Carver D 1-2, RBI. Gavin Z 2-2, 3 RBI. Cooper L 2-2, 2 RBI. Hudson G 1-2, RBI.
SC – 4-2-0-0-4-0 – 10, 17, 0
LA – 1-0-0-4-6-X – 11, 11, 0
SC: Spencer J 3-4. Cooper O 2-4. Zeb D 3-3, 2 RBI. Remington S 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI. Carter K 1-3, 2 RBI. Nathan B 1-3, 2B, RBI. Carver D 1-3, RBI. Gavin Z 1-3. Cooper L 1-3, RBI. Hudson G 2-3, RBI.
Scores and stats are from Gamechanger.