The Paris American 10U baseball team defeated Hudson 7-0 to win the 2020 Super Series State Championship. Despite not having a chance to defend their world series crown due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the 10U Americans — formerly the Paris 9U All-Stars — won the state title for the second year in a row while going undefeated and trailing just one total inning this past weekend in Longview.
The 10U Americans came back from a run down to beat Nacogdoches in their first game 4-3, then beat Palestine 10-0, a team Paris lost to in its first game at the earlier North Regional Tournament. After that, Paris defeated Hallsville 4-2 to reach the championship game matchup against Hudson.
“It has been an off-year with COVID and, as far as our season at Woodall, we had to shorten it but we still got a good amount of games into it to get them ready,” Paris 10U Americans head coach Macky Moree said. “I went through the week knowing we had a chance to do it again. The kids knew what was at stake, and they put 100 percent into every game. It’s crazy to see nine- and 10-year-old kids work this hard, pay attention to detail, and work on fundamentals.”
Moree said the kids worked extensively on fundamentals in practice and that the team was able to turn double plays in crunch games. He gives them the real credit for listening well and really wanting to be great. From web gems to diving catches, the team’s them “make all-star plays” was executed well in Moree’s eyes.
Even though the young baseball stars will not get the opportunity to defend their Dixie Youth Baseball World Series crown, Moree and the rest of the team’s supporters could not be more proud of what they accomplished this season.
“I sent a message out to all my parents afterward, but everyone has told their kids how proud they are of them because of how unique of an accomplishment this is,” Moree said. “There may be some Lufkin and Nacogdoches teams have maybe done it, but no one has in Paris. They lost the first game in the super regionals here in town, but no heads were hanging and I knew they were fixing to let everyone know that wasn’t them on the field. We played Palestine again in the state championship and their bats caught on fire. They’re such good kids on and off the field and I’m so proud of them. It is something I will never forget.”
The players on the Paris 10U Americans are William Bowerman, Kyson Fortner, Jared Franklin, Brandon Furtch, Kallon Gallaghan, Ryder Moree, Luke Nutt, Garrath Rosson, Jayce Smith, Sawyer Snell, Creighton Termin, and Noah Williams. T. J Termin and Beau Gallaghan are Moree’s assistant coaches.
The Paris 12U DYB Ozone team came in ranked third in the state. It lost its first game to Panola County 10-1, but the hometown team came back and won 5-4 against Sulphur Springs to stay in the championship hunt. However, Paris committed three errors in the fourth inning against Bullard in the next round and were eliminated after a 3-2 loss.
The 12U players are Kedan Adamson, Kameron Baker, Montgomery Clark, Kaidyn Gillaghn, Tanner Henry, Hudson Harper, Tristan Peterson, Brenden Sanders, Thomas Thiessen, Carter Whitten, Ashton Williams, Kanyon Williams, and Tanner Middlebrook. The team’s coaches are Les Whitten, Brent Peterson, and Eric Clark.
