Oak Mtn. wins Dizzy Dean World Series
Published 4:55 pm Friday, July 31, 2009
After 10 years in existence, Oak Mountain Youth Baseball has its first Dizzy Dean World Series title, as the 9-year-olds beat Alabama state champion Trussville, 5-1, Friday in Southaven, Miss.
“It’s a memory these kids will have the rest of their lives with parents and grandparents,” head coach Lee Hall said. “It’s a fun group of guys. The Mighty Mites know how to play ball.”
Hall, who coached Briarwood Christian School to the Class 5A state championship series in May, took over the 9-year-olds All-Star team for the summer.
Oak Mountain swept through the World Series with a 6-0 record and relied on the hitting of tournament MVP Hogan Edwards and pitching ace Sam Towery. Edwards was 11-16 in the tournament with 10 RBIs from the clean-up spot. Towery won three of Oak Mountain’s games, recording 11 strikeouts and allowing one run and five hits in 12 innings.
Towery was the winning pitcher Friday to bring home the championship, allowing an unearned run early and only three hits in five and two-thirds innings.
While Edwards was the heavy hitter through the tournament, it was Parker Mixon with the big bat Friday, driving in three runs with a single and a double.
The Mighty Mites, as Hall calls the team, trailed 1-0 entering the third inning, but Josh Hall led off the inning with a bunt single. Hudson Hartsfield drove in Hall with a double to tie the game and later scored on an RBI base hit by Carson Eddy. Mixon drove in one in the third and two in the fifth.
“This was the best baseball game we’ve played all summer long from an offensive standpoint to pitching to defense,” Hall said.
Oak Mountain beat Morgan Park of Marietta, Ga., 12-0, Wednesday in the winner’s bracket before beating the previously unbeaten Florida state champion, 22-8, Thursday.