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The West Point little league team fell 12-2 to the Peachtree City American All-Stars Wednesday night in the Georgia district four tournament. 

The West Point little league team consists of boys aged 11 and 12.

The tournament was a double elimination, and West Point needed to win out if they wanted to qualify for the state tournament in Cartersville.

Peachtree City took an 8-0 lead by the end of the second inning and put up four more runs in the third.

Lawson Williams was the starting pitcher for West Point and is also Franco’s son. He was pulled in the third inning and was replaced by Jayden Posey, who finished out the game.

West Point finally got on the board at the top of the fourth inning when both Triston Hill and Lawson Williams had runs to make it 12-2. The game was called before the bottom of the fourth inning.

West Point head coach Franco Williams was pleased with his kids’ effort even though the result wasn’t what they hoped for. Even with a rough game, Williams never lost confidence in his players.

“I just talked to them over and over and let them know we’re still in the ballgame,” Williams said. “Baseball is an up and down game. I told them once we get down, we just chip away at it and come back in the inning.”

The game ended in only three and a half innings due to the little league mercy rule. When a team is down by 10 runs in the fourth inning, they’re required to end the game.

Williams didn’t specify one player who stood out in the tournament, and mentioned it was a team effort.

“They really wanted to play after the regular season,” Williams said. “I didn’t have a kid miss a practice the whole three weeks we practiced.”

Despite not giving a MVP award, Williams did give third baseman Antonio Harper the “unsung hero” award.

“The award isn’t for the most valuable player, it’s for the kid that has the most heart,” Williams said. “When the team is down, he’s going to pick them up. If I take him out, he doesn’t get upset. That’s the kind of kid you want on your team. He kind of picked the whole team up.”

With this being the postseason for West Point, their season is now over, and they won’t play until April of next year.

“We have seven guys coming back next year,” Williams said. “We’re a young team, so you should see us here again.”

With the little league team being eliminated from the district tournament, every West Point youth baseball team has now been eliminated from contention for the state tournament and Little League World Series.