Back in 2005, long before he became director of Spring Hill Dixie Baseball, Joe Abbadessa witnessed league history unfold. Abbadessa watched his son’s team, the Spring Hill National AAA Minors (age 9-10) All-Stars, capture Spring Hill’s first state championship in any division. Back then it seemed as if the local organization had achieved some sort of impossible dream.
But over the past 10 years, times have changed. Coming into this summer, Spring Hill had compiled 10 state crowns and added three more when the AA Rookies (age 7-8), “O”Zone (age 11-12) and Junior Boys (age 13) each won their state championships.
Those three teams weren’t done, though. In 2014, the Spring Hill American AAA Minors broke through for the league’s first World Series title. This time around, each of the Spring Hill clubs that advanced to Dixie’s premiere stage returned home as World Series champion.
“I think each one has its own special place,” said Abbadessa, head coach of the Junior Boys and Spring Hill league director since 2011. “A lot of hard work goes into it on both sides… To come away with three World Series is just incredible. The Minors lose in the (state) semifinals to the team that ends up winning the World Series. So who knows? It could have been four. It speaks volumes to the depth we have here.”
So the questions arises, just how did Spring Hill go from humble beginnings to becoming one of the top programs in all of Dixie Baseball? To put that in perspective, each World Series features a champion from 11 different southeastern states. “Joe runs a good league…It’s all about putting a good product on the field. It’s very well-organized. Everything is run right here,” said Thomas LoBianco, head coach of the champion “O”Zone team.
Abbadessa and other league officials have pushed a philosophy of building from the base up. To that end, at the AA Rookies level state tournaments and the World Series involve either machine or coach pitching. During its regular season, both in the fall and spring, Spring Hill has taken a different approach, going entirely to player pitch. Recent events suggest it’s working. “Our age group has never even won a state title. To get that was pretty exciting,” said John McMurdo, head coach of the champion AA Rookies. “Then to go into the World Series, there’s nothing like that. You earn everything you get there.”
Yet there are other contributing factors. Baseball is no longer just a summer endeavor. In the case of McMurdo and Abbadessa’s teams, there’s a heavy commitment to travel ball, as well.
McMurdo noted that many of the clubs playing at the highest level also go the travel-ball route. “If you’re not playing travel ball, it’s not impossible to do it (win the World Series), but it’s definitely helping,” McMurdo said. “It’s not just traveling around playing baseball but keeping 10-12 kids together all year.”
The “O”Zone team did buck that trend. Though some of their players are involved in travel ball, they haven’t all played together beyond these past few months. “The other two (championship) teams played together. We had kids that played on different teams… The way we were able to come together as a team, not having played travel ball, was key. I think it had to do with the leaders we had on the team. They all really wanted it. I had some great coaches, as well,” LoBianco said.
LoBianco pointed to the competitiveness of the Spring Hill league as vital in preparing the all-star squads. In the “O” Zone division, while LoBianco’s Spring Hill American was making its great run, Spring Hill National placed second in the district and third in the state. “It definitely helps,” Abbadessa said of travel ball. “But the level of competition that we see year in and year out, it’s paying dividends.”
Before Abbadessa took over the league, for two decades Harold and Helen Keith and their son Jim ran Spring Hill Dixie, laying the groundwork for the current success. “Everything that’s ever happened and everything that will ever happen, 100 percent credit goes back to the Keiths,” Abbadessa said. “Everything they did for 20 years went into building that league. “We made very small tinkers, but it was pretty small. We didn’t have to go back and reinvent the wheel here. This was a well-oiled machine that they left us.” Abbadessa said he still speaks with Harold Keith on a regular basis. “It almost brings tears to his eyes seeing the World Series championships these kids are bringing back,” Abbadessa said. “He still takes an awful lot of pride in what’s happening with Spring Hill Dixie.”
Pride in community plays a role, too. “We take a lot of pride in what we do in Spring Hill, as a league,” Abbadessa said. “The kids are out there doing travel ball and other things, but they still want the opportunity to come back and represent their hometown in all-stars.” The bar has been set high, and Abbadessa hopes the exposure that comes with winning will help to further improve the league and the facilities at Anderson Snow Sports Complex. “To get one (winning) World Series team is tough, but two or three is something we may never see happen again,” McMurdo said. “It was an amazing year. It’s going to be hard to repeat or top that. But there is a ton of talent there.”