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Both the youth baseball teams from Dadeville and Valley represented the State of Alabama with pride this past week in Laurel, Mississippi.

Both teams won the state championships in their respective divisions and moved on to compete in the Dixie Youth World Series.

Dadeville began their run in the Majors division by beating Florida in extra innings 5-4 on Friday, but lost 10-4 to South Carolina on Saturday. The team’s run ended on Sunday when they lost 3-1 to North Carolina.

Likewise, Valley began its tournament on Friday afternoon by beating South Carolina 4-3 but followed it up with a 6-3 loss to Mississippi Saturday. On Sunday, the offense put on a show while beating Texas 10-2 to set up a rematch with Mississippi on Monday. Unfortunately, the rematch ended much like the first game, a 7-3 loss, cutting short their run for another world series title.

Although the outcome for both Dadeville and Valley was not what everyone hoped for, both teams played hard and as the old sports cliche goes, “left it all out on the field.”

The representation at the regional level is a testament to the talent and the quality coaching we have in our area.

This starts at the parks and recreation level, where most young children start their foray in team sports.

Hopefully, most, if not all of these young men decide to continue their baseball careers at the school level and should they do so means there is a bright future for baseball in the coming years.

Congratulations to both Alabama State Champions, we are all proud of you and thank you for representing our state with honor and pride.