The Troy 6U Tournament Team scored seven runs in the first inning and went on to defeat rival Enterprise 25-18 to win the 2019 Alabama Dixie Youth 6U A-South State Championship at the Troy Sportsplex.

The win for Troy gives them their second-straight state championship.

“It’s great for the kids,” said head coach Scott Ross. “They are able to see and understand the fruits of their labor after all they hard work they put in. They really enjoyed that and that’s what it’s all about. Playing the game hard and loving playing.”

Troy sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning and scored the maximum seven runs in the frame to take the 7-0 advantage.

Jaylin Copeland, Noah Houlton, Elliott Cochran, Alex Gutierrez, Parker Precise, Brooks Wallace and Cole Cleveland all reached and scored in the inning.

“A lot of teams like to be the home team,” Ross said. “We really enjoyed being the visitor. We thought we had a good batting practice session before the game. We had a lot of success being the visitor and that was the approach we had to take. We jumped on them extremely fast and when you do that, it’s kind of intimating to the kids. It set the tone for the game.”

Troy got the first two outs of the bottom of the first quickly, but Enterprise had six straight players reach and they cut into Troy’s lead at 7-4 heading into the second inning.

Cleveland ripped a two-run triple in the bottom of the second inning. In all, Troy sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs to take a 13-4 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning.

Enterprise got back to within seven runs after two innings of play and then held Troy scoreless in the third after they got them out 1-2-3.

Troy’s defense allowed five runs in the third, but held on to the lead at 13-11 heading into the fourth inning.

Precise, Wallace, Cleveland, Zane Brookins and Barrett Powell all reached and scored in the top half of the fifth inning and Troy stretched lead back to seven at 20-13.

Enterprise again cut into the lead in the fifth when they scored four runs after it appeared Troy got out of the inning on a double play. Troy went into the sixth leading 20-17.

In their final at-bat of the summer, Troy sent nine batters to the plate in the sixth inning and had five runners touch home, going into the bottom of the sixth leading 25-17.

Enterprise scored a run in the bottom of the sixth, but Troy clinched the win and the championship.

Members of the 2019 State Champions include Zane Brookins, Coggins Brown, Cole Cleveland, Elliott Cochran, Jaylin Copeland, Ethan Ernsberger, Alex Gutierrez, Noah Houlton, Barrett Powell, Parker Precise, Judson Ross and Brooks Wallace. Coaches include Scott Ross, Trey Houlton, Matt Brown and Henry Gutierrez.