LaFayette 10U baseball falls in semifinals
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — The LaFayette Parks and Recreation Department’s Diamond Youth Baseball 10U team finished third overall in Alabama, capping off a Division II state tournament that saw them go 4-2 in a tough field.
At the conclusion of a season that saw the team finish 18-4 overall and make a deep run after receiving a state tournament bid due to their substate tournament performance, head coach Justin Chappell said his players showcased just how special their hometown is.
“LaFayette is a small town, so to get a team to the state tournament and get a top-three finish, I’m just super proud of the boys, coaches, parents and the entire community,” Chappell said. “[The boys] had a great time. It was about having fun, hanging out with friends, making new friends and spending a weekend in Montgomery with the community, playing ball and having fun.”
The LaFayette team found themselves riding high on June 25 after a 12-2 win over Bellingrath before a rain delay forced the anticipated 7 p.m. game against Moundville into the next day.
After losing to Moundville 6-5 in a hard-fought game that went down to the wire on June 26, LaFayette found itself placed in a tougher portion of bracket play the rest of the way.
That mattered little, as the 10U All-Stars defeated Southern 16-0 later that day before taking down Winfield 7-4 and Geneva 6-0 on June 27.
However, LaFayette’s run then ended on June 28 in the semifinals, losing 11-2 to eventual tournament champions Beauregard in a game that was extremely competitive until the fifth and final inning.
Despite allowing seven runs in that fateful frame and falling short of their ultimate goal, the entire experience was a success according to Chappell.
“I hope it wakes the community up a little bit so they can see that baseball is another option because it’s a relatively cheap sport and we've got a couple of fields,” Chappell said. “One through nine [in the batting order] aren’t going to hit a home run every time, but we're having fun, learning, getting our heart rates up and putting down the screens, which I think are good for all the youth right now. The more they can get outside, break a sweat, learn how to be on a team and fight through some adversity, I think those are all great qualities.”
Chappell added that the tournament and broader season also highlighted contributions from several community members, primarily assistant coach Jamarcus Walton.
Although Walton did not have a child playing, Chappell said that Walton went above and beyond what he needed to do to ensure the team had everything it needed.
“He was the lifeblood of the team, communicating with the parents, the kids and making sure we were abiding by all of the rules and regulations,” Chappell said. “He didn't have a dog in the fight. He's a guy in the community who just cares about the young guys and tries to give them something to do. I think a lot of the credit for this season as a whole goes to him because without him, we’d have spent countless hours figuring all of it out and making sure we were right. It would have never happened.”
