Sports teams aren’t defined by how they start a season but by how they finish it.
Plant City’s machine-pitch all-star teams, which started tournament play well before the rest of Plant City Little League’s squads, just wrapped things up on the highest possible note. The Bulldogs, Warriors and Rays combined for a sweep of the Eagle Lake All-Star tournament, with the Bulldogs and Warriors winning their divisions and the Rays getting a second-place win.
BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs were the only team to play in the Rookie A bracket, which contained seven Central Florida squads. They were also the only team to win a trophy by blowout, picking up a 13-3 win over Lake Wales in unlikely fashion.
“Bunting was our ticket,” head coach Brian Purkey says. “I think everybody on the team laid down a good bunt. I could hear the parents getting mad, from the other team. ‘Is that all they’re going to do, is bunt?’”
Rather than single out an MVP candidate, Purkey credits the outfield for coming up huge defensively: the unit caught fly balls and turned double plays when it had to.
For this team, getting to the championship was a long time coming. In the previous two tournaments, at Winter Haven and Lakeland Highlands, the Bulldogs could only reach the semifinals before being knocked out. The key to making the third time the charm was the team’s focus.
“We only had about one error in the last two games,” Purkey says. “The kids bunted very well, and that’s something we’ve worked on. A lot of these kids have a hard time trying to charge the ball and then get rid of the ball.”
WARRIORS
The Rookie B division champions, the Plant City Warriors, were in a good situation heading into the final round. No matter who won the championship game between the Warriors and the Rays, the end result would be a Plant City sweep.
The Warriors happened to be a little better on Sunday, June 12, picking up a 7-4 win over the Rays.
“We just had some great defense, and some bats that came alive for us,” head coach Chris Ham says.
The Warriors had previously finished second in the Winter Haven tournament but were then knocked out in the first round of the Lakeland Highlands tournament. Ham says the team knew it had to play well to make up for the loss.
While Ham says there were “lots of MVPs” from the tournament, one play in particular stood out: in the championship game against the Rays, first baseman Hunter Carbaugh caught a pop fly and then got the tag at first to complete the game-ending double play.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Ham says. “We were pretty stoked.”
RAYS
The Rays finished second in the Eagle Lake tournament.
“It was definitely fun,” head coach Chris Fry says. “The kids had a lot of fun, and they played really good. That last game, they were tired. They’d been out in the sun all day.”
Fry was pleased with the way the team looked, especially in the case of first baseman Brisen Tweedy, and says the most fun moment of the four-team tournament came on Friday, June 10, when the Rays picked up a 5-4 win over Winter Haven.
At the end of the game, Plant City was hanging on to a 5-4 lead by a thread. Winter Haven had the bases loaded with one out, but Fry’s son, Tyler, turned a double play to put the game away. Coincidentally, the Rays’ next game would end with them on the wrong side of a game-ending double play — but, it’s all in good fun, and the kids still got to go home with a trophy.
“I’d definitely rank it among the best (seasons) I’ve been a part of,” Fry says. “When you’ve got good parents, everyone gets along and the kids have fun, that’s what I like.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.