Awesome, baby!

The West Raleigh 8U Blue team, which includes brothers, friends and teammates of everyone on the 7U roster, captured the Southeast Regional championship today in Andalusia, Alabama. There is no World Series for 8U, so West Raleigh went as far as they possibly could and earned the title with a decisive win over Sarasota, Florida. Sarasota is a hotbed of Cal Ripken baseball, and their 8U team even includes the grandson of someone very familiar to West Raleigh fans. In the interest of good sportsmanship, we are not at all going to mention that Sarasota needed to get a TO, baby, or that every member of West Raleigh 8U Blue is a PTPer!

7U Blue was lucky enough to play against 8U Blue in the Top Gun All-Star Weekend in Wilmington on June 17. After that game (a 6-2 8U win), Coach Lance told his 8U team that he hoped they would get the same enjoyment out of playing the game that he saw from the 7U team on that day in Wilmington. Safe to say the 8U team got plenty of enjoyment out of beating the very best teams in the entire southeast United States. Congratulations to everyone involved, especially the players, parents and coaching staff. Every time our "little" guys (some littler than others, not that I am naming names) get to play against the "big" guys, it makes them better, and the 8U team has consistently demonstrated the right way to play--both fundamentally on the field and with good sportsmanship on and off the field.

Thought this might be a good time to revisit the "team" photo of the 7U ENC state champs and the 8U Southeast Regional champs: