Americus Times-Recorder, Americus, Georgia

July 1, 2009

Our Opinion -S.A.L.L. team is out of sight!


Congratulations to the Sumter Area Little League team.

Known as the Stallions in the other tournaments, they beat the Albany National team by scores of 10-0 and 8-1 in the sub-district series to advance to the district series. That will start July 13 against the Columbus district winner.

Coaches Marty McDonald and Phillip Welch have worked hard in getting the kids ready to play for these games, and it shows by their 17-1 record this summer.

Geoffrey McDonald and Hunter Weldon lead the bunch having played last summer, and they got the wins on the mound in the sub-district series.

Made up of 11 kids from the six different recreational teams, they all seem to enjoy each other for the most part, picking at each other and picking each other up.

But even before they host the district series, they will play at the state GRPA tournament next week in Moultrie. It's an eight-team, four-day tournament. McDonald knows they have the talent to win, but they will have to play better than they did Monday and Tuesday, especially at the plate.

One of the kids said Tuesday in the third inning that they should have 18 runs by then.

We encourage the entire community to get behind Sumter Area and come out to its games as it has dreams of making the trip to Williamsport, Va. like teams from Columbus and Warner Robins have done in the past three years.