Oconee County Little League State Champs Celebrate Remarkable Season

Since returning from the Tournament of State Champions in West Virginia with bronze medals, the Oconee County Little League 9/10 All Stars have enjoyed their status as hometown celebrities.

"At school, they're the big talk right now," team manager Travis Saxon said during a pizza party given by Fox's Pizza Den of Oconee on Tuesday, Aug. 13.  "A couple of kids made the comment tonight that their hands are hurting from signing autographs."

From day one when the team was formed in June, Saxon said he knew by just reading the list of kids' names that it was going to be a special team.

"The chemistry between the kids is what made it all happen," he said.

The team only had a few weeks to prepare and were up against teams that play together year round.

"Our kids just never quit," he said.  "They played hard every game and they truly believed they were unbeatable. And I think that's the reason we had so much success."

Oconee County was the first team from Georgia other that Columbus or Warner Robbins to make it to the tournament. After a loss to Virginia in the first round 11-7, Oconee County shut out Alabama 10-0, then battled hard but fell to Tennessee 7-5 in the third game.

"It was just an amazing experience," Saxon said, and the players were thrilled that the games were streamed live online.

Other season highlights, according to Saxon, included beating Athens in the district game "because everybody said Athens was going to be the powerhouse team" and coming back after trailing 9-7 in the last inning of the state championship game against Hart County.

"I can remember, just like it happened yesterday, coming off the field and looking at the kids in the dugout and you'd have thought we were winning by two," he recalled. "Nobody panicked, nobody got down, and we scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to win it 10-9."

Saxon said the support from the community has been incredible.

"The community really got behind us and that's pretty sweet to see that," he said.

Members of the team are Zach Bolding, Trevor Daniels, JJ Hudson,  Luke Kincaid, Jack LaFlamme, Liam Lewis,  Hudson Mullins, Stephen Mustard, Sam Naeher, Eli Nelson, Charleaf Nisbet, Thomas Lane Saxon. Jeff Bolding and Derrick Mullins coached the team with Saxon.