The Columbia 6u softball all-stars made a great run in the X-Play State Tournament in Monticello to place fourth in the state.
After withstanding a haymaker in the form of a 23-4 loss Friday night to Lawrence County, the Sweetees rebounded to eliminate two teams in consecutive games in impressive fashion Saturday afternoon.
“Lawrence County has about seven or eight returning all-star players, and that’s who Columbia beat last year. They had really good sticks and all were really good hitters,” head coach Devin Boyd said. “We have some really good hitters, too, but we just weren’t performing to the top against them like we should have.”
In its first matchup Saturday, the Columbia 6u offense woke up to lead it to a 16-5 victory to bounce Pontotoc from the state tournament. Then came Yazoo City, which had beat Natchez and Pontotoc but lost to Philadelphia, and Columbia flexed its muscles once again. The Sweetees stayed hot throughout and beat Yazoo 22-9 to advance to the semifinals.
However, the young softball squad met its end Sunday against Philadelphia in its final test of the summer. Philadelphia turned up the pressure and eliminated Columbia in a 23-9 contest.
“This was my first go around with all-stars, and from what I understand we only had one returning all-star, which was Harley Ramshur, who was one of the younger ones last year. I think to place fourth out of nine teams with only one returner we did pretty well,” Boyd said. “It started off shaky with the few tournaments we were in, but every time we improved and I’m proud of where we made it to through this state tournament. Our bats just weren’t going as much as we wanted them to.”
Morgan McKenzie paced the Sweetees at the dish with three home runs, followed by Ramshur with two, and Macey Sledge, Khloe Burns, McCord Martin and Jayla Johnson each had one.
Boyd, who earned the honor as all-star coach by going undefeated during the Dean Griner season, led a group of girls despite none being her own.
“My daughter didn’t play this year as much as I wanted her to during the season, so I took the time away from my family to be with these girls for all-stars and don’t regret it. I enjoy coaching and enjoyed the girls. Every time I have a team, those girls are my girls and are like my family,” she said. “I hope they enjoy the rest of their summer before they head back to school, and I hope they enjoyed it as much I did and want to play again next year.”
The Sweetees include Ramshur, McKenzie, Sledge, Burns, Johnson, McCord Martin, Marlee Martin, Addison Crain, Presley Haddox, Alli Burrell, Kaleigh Stroud and Emma Faust and coaches Matt Ramshur, Jason McKenzie and Laken Nace.
Pictured Above: Sweetees coaches rally the troops between innings during the state tournament. | Photo Submitted
