corey.davis@gaflnews.com

LIVE OAK- We watched them compete for district and state titles for weeks at the First Federal Sportsplex, but what happened when they left town?

In the span of a month, about 60 Babe Ruth baseball teams competed in the District 6 (June 10-13) and North Florida State tournaments (July 15-17), but after winning or losing in the tournaments they all went their separate ways. So what happened to the winners from each of those tournaments?        

9-year olds

Wakulla coasted to the District 6 title sweeping host Suwannee 14-12 and 11-8 in a best of three series June 10-13 in Live Oak.

After winning the district, Wakulla advanced to the six-team double elimination North Florida State tournament held July 8-11 in Jacksonville Beach.  Wakulla joined Ponte Vedra, North Central Florida, Julington Creek, Orange Park and host Jacksonville Beach in the tourney.  

Unfortunately, Wakulla’s run was short lived as they were the second team eliminated after dropping its first two games 3-2 to North Central Florida and 17-0 to Orange Park.    

Ponte Vedra defeated Julington Creek 9-6 to win the state title and advance to the Southeast Regional July 22 in Varina, Virginia. Ponte Vedra went 4-0 in the American South Division, while Julington Creek went 3-1 in the National West Division as both advanced to the single elimination bracket and lost in the semi-finals.       

10-year olds

In the 10-year-olds bracket June 10-13, Lake City, Branford, Fort White, Lafayette, Madison, Hamilton, Wakulla, Union and host Suwannee all competed. Branford did the best finishing 2-2 losing to the eventual runner-up team Madison County, while Suwannee, Lafayette and Hamilton all went 1-2.     

Lake City cruised through the 10-year old district title sweeping its way through the bracket including an  10-0 win over Madison County in the final.  Both teams advanced to the 10-team double elimination  North Florida State tournament held July 15-19 in Jacksonville.

Joining them were Mandarin, Santa Fe, Argyle, Orange Park, North Central Florida, Jacksonville Beach, Cedar Hills and host San Jose.

Madison County went 1-2 in the tournament beating Santa Fe 18-4 before falling to San Jose 9-7 in the opener and Orange Park 4-3 in its third and final game.  

Lake City won its first three games in wins over Mandarin 9-5, Orange Park 12-2 and Argyle 11-6 to advance to the winner’s bracket final, before dropping a 14-1 loss to Jacksonville Beach.  A day later, Jacksonville Beach won the title with an 18-2 win over Orange Park to advance to the 12-team double elimination Southeast Regional July 29-Aug. 3 in North Augusta, South Carolina.

In Augusta, Jacksonville Beach had a bye in the opener and cruised to the winners bracket final with wins over Arlington, Virginia 18-5 and Winterville, North Carolina 14-3, before running into a tough Tillman’s Corner, Alabama team which pounded them 16-5 to advance to the championship round.

The loss sent Jacksonville Beach to the loser’s bracket, where they knocked off West Ashley, North Carolina 17-2 to get a rematch with Tillman. Jacksonville Beach had to knock off Tillman twice to earn the title and surprisingly did with ease with a pair of 6-1, 12-0 wins.

Jacksonville Beach advanced to the Cal Ripken World Series August 13-20 in Ocala and is competing against Newton (Conn), Middleton (NJ), Scott County (Kty), Sikeston (Missouri), Weimar (Tx), Willamette Valley (Oregon), Bakersfield (Cal), Jupiter and host Ocala.

12-year olds (60-foot)

Winthrop Park, out of Tallahassee, claimed the 60-foot North Florida 12-under Cal Ripken State title July 15-17 in Live Oak with wins over Madison County 4-3, Argyle 18-5 and Madison 11-6 in the title game.  

Host Suwannee went 0-2 in the tournament with losses to Argyle 11-4 and Madison 16-5 to be the first team out.

Winthrop Park competed July 29-Aug 4 in the Southeast Regional in Lakeland and competed against South Augusta (Virginia), Gaffney (SC), Hominy Valley (NC), Donelson (Tenn), Linden (Ala), Nassau (Bahamas), Giles County (Tenn.), Hamilton (BM), Warwick Moose (VA) and host Lakeland.   

Unfortunately, Winthrop Park’s stay wasn’t that long going 1-2 in the tourney, as Nassau, Bahamas walked away with the title and a trip to the Babe Ruth World Series August 12-19 in Wilson County, North Carolina.

12-year olds (70-foot)

Julington Creek, outside Jacksonville area, went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament with wins over Melrose 9-7, Orange Park 9-6 and Argyle 6-3, 8-4 to claim the state 70-foot title July 15-19 in Live Oak.

“The key for us winning this is the closeness of the kids,” Julington Creek head coach Al Arena. “These kids hang out, they have sleepovers and play Modern Warfare II (video game). Of course it also helps to pitch well, play good defense and have timely hitting.”      

Melrose, Orange Park, Santa Fe, Lafayette, Ponte Vedra, Hamilton County and host Suwannee also competed in the 12-under 70-foot base tournament.   

Hamilton and Suwannee both finished 0-2 in the tournament while Lafayette went 1-2 with a win over Hamilton in an elimination game.

Julington Creek and Argyle both competed in the Babe Ruth Southeast Regional July 29-Aug 4 in Ocala against the winners from the South Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Western North Carolina, Eastern North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Western Tennessee, Virginia and host Ocala.          

Argyle and Julington Creek both got put into the loser’s bracket quickly and met in an elimination game with Julington Creek winning 12-3, however Julington Creek was sent home one game later in a 18-17 loss to Matthews, NC.  

Ocala stunned the competition going 5-0 to win the title and move on to the Cal Ripken World Series August 14-21 in Aberdeen, Maryland to compete against Norwalk (Conn), Bear (Del), Lexington (Kty), Mineral Area (Missouri), Mountain Home (Ark), Willamette Valley (Oregon), Bakersfield (Cal), Charles County (MD) and host Emmorton (MD).

13-years olds

In the 13-year old class, Fort White, Lafayette and Hamilton competed for the District 6 title in Live Oak and Fort White brought home the title with a 8-2 win over Lafayette. Lafayette finished 1-2 to finish second, while Hamilton went 0-2 to finish third.

Fort White went 0-2 at state in Tallahassee to end its season, including a tourney opening loss to Tallahassee, the eventual state winner.

Tallahassee went 4-0 to win the Southeast Regional August 5-10 in Havelook, NC to advance to the World Series August 19-26 in Levelland, Texas.    

15-year olds

In the 15-year-olds bracket, Fort White, Suwannee, Hamilton, Jefferson and Perry competed for the District 6 title in June in Live Oak. Fort White, which knocked off Suwannee 9-1 in the opening game, went on to win the title over Jefferson 9-5 and will advance to state, Suwannee finished 1-2 while Hamilton was 0-2.

Fort White advanced to the state tournament July 22-25 in Fernandina Beach and went 0-2 losing to host Fernandina Beach 6-4 and Julington Creek 4-2 to end its season.

Fernandina Beach won the title going undefeated at 4-0 to advance to the Southeast Regional August 5-11 in Matthews, NC.; however its trip was short though as they went 0-2 in the tourney.