In the end, the Dixie Baseball 15U All-Stars World Series ended the same way as last month’s state tournament for Spring Hill.
The local squad had finished second at states, losing twice to host North Lakeland. Both teams advanced to the World Series, which took place this past weekend in Ozark, Ala.
On Saturday, Spring Hill again found itself facing North Lakeland while facing elimination, and came up short for the third time, 11-1.
“They’re just a rock-solid ball club. I’m not taking anything away from them,” Spring Hill head coach Bob Roberson said. “Since they beat us in the state tournament, that was really hard for my guys to get that out of their heads.”
Despite the ending, Spring Hill had performed admirably over the first two games of the World Series. It started with a 6-4 loss to Ozark on Thursday, followed by a 9-0 victory Friday over Greenback, Tenn.
Alex Renke and Sam Roush tossed back-to-back complete games over those first two contests, while Roush and Jackson McLaughlin hit a double in each game.
The loss to Ozark featured Spring Hill committing more errors (four) than it collected hits (three). It was 4-4 when a dropped fly ball kept the sixth inning alive for Ozark, and the next batter drove in two runs on a base hit.
Catcher Henry Fernandez threw out three runners attempting to steal in the tournament, and also stole three bases along with Caleb Roberson and Zack Krug.
Against North Lakeland, Spring Hill again struggled defensively with three errors in the first inning, leading to three runs. From there, the county crew simply couldn’t recover.
“I’m really proud of all the players. They never gave up,” Coach Roberson said. “Even when we were down 9-1, 10-1, they were playing their hearts out. Overall, we played well. We pitched well and we played well.”
Coach Roberson noted that Spring Hill was at a bit of a disadvantage. While all its players came from Spring Hill Dixie, North Lakeland pulled from players all over the area.
For this Spring Hill group, which additionally participated in a travel ball tournament between states and the World Series, this could just mark the beginning. The roster will continue competing on the travel-ball circuit.
“This is our first time with all these guys completely together,” Coach Roberson said. “These three games were our eighth, ninth and 10th game together as a team and they’re jelling more and more every single game.
“We’ll keep going with the travel ball team. I feel really good about them. They feel good about themselves. They’re not happy we went home as early as we did, but they’re proud of what they accomplished.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.