For the first time in documented history, the Eclectic 8U youth baseball team won the state championship.
Eclectic, which began play in the USSSA youth baseball league this year, claimed the championship in the 8U Silver Minor Division.
Coach Chase Hornsby, who also serves as a board member for the league, said the league cannot find anything that says Eclectic has won a state championship in the past.
With winning the state championship, the team is now invited to play in the USSSA 8U World Series played in Gulfport, Mississippi, on July 13th.
Eclectic’s team consists of 13 players and five coaches. The players are Ethan Gullatte, Ty Edwards, Luc Ames, Ryder Hornsby, Lawton Knowles, Ben Alexander, Jamichael Buckhanon, Dale Thornell, Trace Lucas, Gunner Brown, Jace Hall, Carter Thornton, and Bryson Voreis.
The five coaches are Hornsby, Greg Ames, Jonny Lucas, Jamie Buckhanon, and Calvin Brown.
“We’ve never won a state championship before, and this will be our first invite to the World Series,” Hornsby said. “Our All-Star team is picked from only 38 kids, while some teams we’re playing have 100 or more kids they’re picking from. So on paper, we aren’t supposed to beat those guys, but we did. Our kids played their hearts out and played great the entire tournament. It was a fun sight to watch.”
The Eclectic 8U team didn’t just win the state championship, but they dominated their opponents en route to the title.
In the semifinals matchup, Eclectic beat McCalla, 15-4, and cruised to the state championship game to face Springville. That game ended up being a worse score as Eclectic won, 15-1, to claim their first state title.
McCalla, the team Eclectic beat in the semifinals, had a league of over 150 kids to pick their All-Star team from.
“These kids just clicked in the state tournament,” Hornsby said. “They played together and the chemistry was there. It was a team that we hadn’t seen before. They did everything right on offense and defense. They turned a lot of double plays and didn’t make many mistakes when it counted, which was a shocker to all of us.”
With the World Series invite coming up on July 13th, the league has started a GoFundMe to help raise money to send the team to Gulfport. The current goal is set to $10,000 and all the money that is raised will be spent on travel expenses, hotels and food.
With parents having to take off work for multiple days, the money will help cover the cost of gas and food.
The GoFundMe link is already up and running, and the team has already raised nearly $1,000 of its goal. To donate and help the Eclectic team achieve their dream of playing in the World Series, you can visit www.gofundme.com/f/8u-eclectic-allstar-world-series.
“We aren’t as fortunate as some teams when it comes to money,” Hornsby said. “We aren’t able to give the teams money for travel, so we are having to raise almost all of it. We just don’t have that luxury. Our goal is to hit around $10,000 and that will cover the majority of our expenses.”
Eclectic youth isn’t the only state championship baseball team in Elmore County.
Wetumpka’s youth league has three state championship teams. The 10U team, 8U black and 8U gold teams all won their respective championships.
Their are four 8U divisions in the USSSA league. Wetumpka’s two 8U teams won the Gold Major and Silver Major, while Eclectic won the Silver Minor.
Three of the four 8U championships across the entire state were won by teams in Elmore County.
Millbrook also has two teams with invites to the World Series. Millbrook's 9U team and 12U teams each won their respective age groups, with 9U dominating their schedule by going 9-0.
