Fort Mill sent its all-star sluggers to face the best. They’ll come home state champs.
A team of Fort Mill ballplayers are state champions.
The coach pitch baseball all-stars from the Fort Mill rec league won the Dixie Youth Baseball state championship on Tuesday morning. The squad bested a 12-team field by beating Greer in the final of the state tournament held in Orangeburg.
The team next travels to Laurel, Miss. for the Dixie Youth World Series on Aug. 6.
“We’ve got one heck of a team here,” said head coach Ryan Smith. “We’ve worked really, really hard. Two hours a day, four days a week. That doesn’t count what they’re doing in their garage at home.”
The all-stars started their six-game run on Saturday with wins over host Orangeburg, and McLeod Park. The team won against Gregg Park on Sunday, then beat Greer for the first of two times on Monday afternoon. A win Monday night against Moncks Corner set up a championship rematch Tuesday morning against Greer.
Coach pitch teams in Fort Mill and at the state tournament play in the eight years and under division.
The team won four games, giving up just four runs, at the six-team district tournament to qualify for state. The team had about as many shutouts at state as they had games giving up runs, all with the other teams hitting pitching from their own coaches.
“The defense is incredible,” Smith said. “We gave up nine runs in the entire (state) tournament, I believe. They worked really hard on it.”
The team is coached by a full bench of former college players, but the coach pitch team has supremely talented athletes, their coach says. Now, the team will prepare for a World Series run.
“We need to raise money because it’s going to be very expensive,” Smith said.
Smith said support from team families has been a strength too, from snacks and drinks to shagging balls in the outfield at practice.
Team players are Calvin Krantz, Easton Nesteruk, Henry Herchek, Tyler Teaver, Graham Mattox, Chase Smith, Ethan Rodriguez, Clay Swenson, Jace Griffin, Gordon Owino, Ishaan Alluri and Brady Childers. Smith is the manager, with coaches Jad Griffin, Chris Mattox and Kevin Nesteruk.
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 3:10 PM.
