The Owensboro Southern 10U All-Stars came up just short of a District 1 championship, but the stage is set for the group of young players to compete for another one next year as 11-year-olds.
The 10U squad lost 9-2 to Warren County South in Tuesday’s title game at Country Heights Elementary School. The Southern offense wasn’t able to piece together hits, and a few untimely errors proved costly.
Owensboro manager Josh Henry said Warren County — who beat Southern 13-0 Saturday — put together another strong performance.
“Hats off to Warren County South,” Henry said. “They are a great team. They did what they were supposed to do and they made some great plays. The ball didn’t bounce our way tonight.”
Warren County took a quick lead and held Owensboro scoreless through four innings. Southern finally got on the board with a Maddox Ulmer single that drove in Tucker Evans in the fifth. Ulmer then drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth that allowed Myles Grant to score.
Evans had two hits including a double, while the only other hit came from Isaac James.
Henry said it’s disappointing to lose, but the journey with this group has been a fun one.
“For me coaching baseball, this was one of the greatest experiences,” he said. “My son is not on the team — I was voted just to coach. It was me working with a bunch of kids I didn’t know, and it was one of the best runs in baseball I’ve had.”
With nearly every player moving up to the majors next year, Henry said he expects the older Southern All-Star team to be a district title contender. He told the team to use the experience of playing for a championship to keep improving.
“It means the world to them,” he said. “(I told them) don’t think of this as an end. Think of it as a beginning point moving forward because now everybody knows who we are. They know we can compete with them.”
