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The boys who play for the Snipers dreamed of winning a world championship and on Friday, July 17, that dream became a reality. The Snipers baseball team won the USSSA 8AA Machine Pitch World Series in Edmond, Okla.
Snipers baseball team consists of 7/8 year old boys from Prescott, Gurdon, Hope and Texarkana. Prescott players are Kade Honea, Brody Pennington and Bryer Pennington. Boys were coached by Mark Masanelli, Jim Honea, Randy Ledbetter and Rickie Robbins.
All USSSA tournaments start with pool play games. The Snipers learned on Sunday they would have three pool plays to determine their seeding for bracket play. Pool play game #1 started on Monday morning. The Snipers had to face the Arkansas Outlaws. The Arkansas Outlaws won the 2009 USSSA State Championship. The Snipers had to shake loose some first game jitters, but came out on top 12-6. The next day, the Snipers beat the Mudcats 13-4, and later on that evening the boys were victorious against the Irish by the score 19-12. After all pool games concluded on Tuesday evening, the Snipers 3-0 learned they were the #2 seed.
The official bracket play started on Wednesday morning with the Snipers playing the Oklahoma Pirates. The Snipers won the game 13-4. With that win, the team advanced to Thursday to play the Sundawgs.
The Sundawgs were tough opponents and had great sportsmanship, but the Snipers won the contest 12-7. Later on that same afternoon, the Mudcats took the field against the Snipers. These two teams had faced each other earlier in the week, but this game was by far more intense. There was several scoreless innings and lots of pacing back and forth, but the boys refused to lose and pulled the game out with a score of 9-7. With that victory, the boys secured their place in the finals on Friday.
The team, with painted faces, arrived at the ballpark to find out who they would play for the championship. It would be an all Arkansas final, Snipers vs. Outlaws. The Outlaws had to play and win two games earlier that morning to make it to the finals and it showed because they were ready to play. In the top of the first inning, the Arkansas Outlaws went on a hitting spree which allowed them to put seven runs on the board.
The Snipers had to start chipping away in the bottom of the first, but only scored five. The game was tied at two different times and several innings were scoreless.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the score was 14-12 with the Snipers leading. The bats finally came alive and runs started crossing the plate. The Snipers won 20-12 and were crowned World Series Champions!
- Submitted by Christie Robbins
The boys who play for the Snipers dreamed of winning a world championship and on Friday, July 17, that dream became a reality. The Snipers baseball team won the USSSA 8AA Machine Pitch World Series in Edmond, Okla.
Snipers baseball team consists of 7/8 year old boys from Prescott, Gurdon, Hope and Texarkana. Prescott players are Kade Honea, Brody Pennington and Bryer Pennington. Boys were coached by Mark Masanelli, Jim Honea, Randy Ledbetter and Rickie Robbins.
All USSSA tournaments start with pool play games. The Snipers learned on Sunday they would have three pool plays to determine their seeding for bracket play. Pool play game #1 started on Monday morning. The Snipers had to face the Arkansas Outlaws. The Arkansas Outlaws won the 2009 USSSA State Championship. The Snipers had to shake loose some first game jitters, but came out on top 12-6. The next day, the Snipers beat the Mudcats 13-4, and later on that evening the boys were victorious against the Irish by the score 19-12. After all pool games concluded on Tuesday evening, the Snipers 3-0 learned they were the #2 seed.
The official bracket play started on Wednesday morning with the Snipers playing the Oklahoma Pirates. The Snipers won the game 13-4. With that win, the team advanced to Thursday to play the Sundawgs.
The Sundawgs were tough opponents and had great sportsmanship, but the Snipers won the contest 12-7. Later on that same afternoon, the Mudcats took the field against the Snipers. These two teams had faced each other earlier in the week, but this game was by far more intense. There was several scoreless innings and lots of pacing back and forth, but the boys refused to lose and pulled the game out with a score of 9-7. With that victory, the boys secured their place in the finals on Friday.
The team, with painted faces, arrived at the ballpark to find out who they would play for the championship. It would be an all Arkansas final, Snipers vs. Outlaws. The Outlaws had to play and win two games earlier that morning to make it to the finals and it showed because they were ready to play. In the top of the first inning, the Arkansas Outlaws went on a hitting spree which allowed them to put seven runs on the board.
The Snipers had to start chipping away in the bottom of the first, but only scored five. The game was tied at two different times and several innings were scoreless.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the score was 14-12 with the Snipers leading. The bats finally came alive and runs started crossing the plate. The Snipers won 20-12 and were crowned World Series Champions!
- Submitted by Christie Robbins
