Little Leaguers set to battle for District Five championship

The dream starts at district. The energetic and exuberant expressions of players seen at the Little League World Series originate at the district level, where local all-star teams square off against each other to earn a bid to the state tournament.

The Warner Robins American Little League will play host to several teams around Middle Georgia from Saturday to Thursday to decide which team’s dreams will live another day. Three divisions for baseball -- 9-10-years-old, 10-11 and 11-12 -- and two divisions for softball -- 9-10 and 11-12 -- will make up the field of players.

Dudley, Vine Ingle, Western, Warner Robins American East and Warner Robins American West will battle in the 11-12 baseball division. First-round pairings include a Western and Warner Robins East matchup at 4 p.m. on Saturday; Dudley and Vine Ingle will square off at 6:30 p.m.

“We want to stay focused, be patient at the plate, try to play fundamentally sound defense and keep a positive mental attitude,” Warner Robins East manager Mike Davis said.

Warner Robins West is granted a first-round bye because of a drawing.

“We’re kind of looking at it one step at a time. We’d love to make it back to the Southeast Region; that’s our primary goal right now,” Warner Robins West manager Scott Ethridge said. “But every tournament’s our goal ahead of us,”

Ethridge said that his team’s biggest strength is its chemistry.

“We have a good core of kids who have played a lot of baseball together over the years -- they’re all good friends,” he said.

Teams will play in a double-elimination bracket; the final two teams standing will square off Thursday in the championship. The district champion receives a berth to the state tournament, which progresses into a regional tournament and finally the Little League World Series, which is played Aug. 20-30 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the 11-12 division in baseball.

Both Davis and Dudley manager Brian Brown referenced the level of competition in the district.

“Our district ... wow,” Brown said. “District 5 is tough. It all boils down to who gets the timely hits and who makes the least amount of errors.”

The 9-10 boys division includes the same teams, while the 10-11 division is lacking a Western representative. The 9-10 grouping’s final will be played Sunday.

The first round of the 10-11 tournament will be played Saturday, which will feature Dudley versus Vine Ingle at 4 p.m. and Warner Robins East versus Warner Robins West at 6:30 p.m.

Only two teams entered the 9-10 softball division -- Warner Robins and Western. The teams will play a best two-of-three series Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (if necessary) to determine the champion.

The 11-12 softball division at the District 5 tournament features only three teams -- Warner Robins West, Western and Macon. With Warner Robins West receiving the first round bye, Macon and Western will face one another at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“I just tell my girls to do the same thing we’ve been doing all year -- just do the things we work on and make the plays we can make,” Western manager Greg Ballard said.

The 11-12 softball division plays the World Series in Portland, Oregon, from Aug. 13-19. A Little League World Series appearance isn’t out of the equation for any of these teams. Take 2009 as an example, when a Warner Robins 11-12 baseball and softball team made the Word Series in the same year.

One year later, another 11-12 softball team from Warner Robins made an appearance.

“That would be the ultimate to me,” said Vine Ingle manager Harry Dehart, who is retiring after this season.

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Little Leaguers set to battle for District Five championship ."