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The Charlotte County Dixie Angels fought to the end of a double-elimination tournament and won the World Series for their age group in two games on Tuesday.

The team of 9- and 10-year-olds would have won the Series automatically had they won their first game on Tuesday morning. However, they dropped that game 1-0 and had to play again to see their dreams come true.

They persevered and saw the same score in the second game — only this time, they were the team on top.

“I want to thank God for these awesome young ladies that I’ve coached,” manager Brian Barton said after Tuesday’s efforts. “They’re good ballplayers, and they’re good kids altogether with good attitudes. They worked hard at practice all year, and it’s good for them to be rewarded.”

The Angels team includes Emma Barton, Averie Barton, Aubrey Barton, Harley Nelson, Madilynn Tatum, Reece Toombs, Mallory Barton, Marissa Lee, Zytriah Whitehead, JoLee Layne, Kaydence Friend and Alyssa Gosney.

Barton said the league imposes a rule that each pitcher can pitch only 13 innings per tournament. Going into Tuesday, he was staring down the limit with both of his pitchers, Mallory Barton and JoLee “Honey” Layne, but he knew their opponents, Team Alabama, were in the same situation. He strategized based on that, and it paid off.

“We lost that first one, but I felt good, because they had burnt their pitching up,” he said. “We edged them out.”

Finishing strong 

Barton praised the efforts on the mound Tuesday.

“Mallory and Honey pitched pretty amazingly the whole tournament,” he said, adding they had a combined 57 strikeouts across 26 innings. “Honey was overpowering for a lot of the hitters. Mallory hit her spots inside, outside, high, low, changeups, she just kept throwing the batters off.”

Catcher Emma Barton was a force behind the plate who was able to keep multiple runners from stealing bases, the coach noted.

On the offensive side, Barton noted Reece Toombs, Zytriah Whitehead and Mallory Barton had the highest batting averages for the tournament. He also called out Kaydence Friend for her base work.

“Once you get her on, she gets around the bases,” he said.

“It was a team effort from the bottom to the top,” Barton added about his entire team. “We had good defensive plays.”

Making history

This is the first time Team Virginia has won the Dixie World Series in the Angels division, Barton said. He’s not surprised it happened with his team.

“They’re hard workers,” he said. “They come with good attitudes, and I would try to end practice some days, and they would want to keep going. They’re a good group of kids.”