EPRD announces tourney teams

By Andy Brown

Published: June 13, 2008

It may very well be the toughest part of the baseball and softball seasons.

The regular season is history, and that can mean just one thing. It’s tournament time. For league coaches that often means making difficult decisions about which players will represent the Bluff City.

“It can be tough,” Dixie Minor National All-Star coach Eddie Maldonado said. “… You want to pick the best 12 players to represent Eufaula. If all the coaches do a good job of scouting during the regular season it gets a little easier, but there are still times when you’ll have one or two spots left and three or four players that are pretty even as far as talent.

“That’s when it gets tough.”

Jimmy King, who will coach the Dixie Youth All-Stars, agrees.

“It’s not easy to narrow 70-90 kids down to 12,” he said.  “It seems like when you get to the end there are always four or five kids that there’s really no difference in (as far as talent).

“So, you start looking at things like batting averages and attitude. It can be kind of hard to pick the team, but you just want to make sure you pick a team that’s going to represent the city well.

“I think the coaches usually do a pretty good job of doing that.”

The players that will be representing Eufaula this season are as follows.

Instructional League: Drew Benefield, Henry Reeves, Kyler Wells, John Adams Gray, Michael Lewis, Isaac Paige, Garrett Squires, Hunter Sumnicht, Dannon Whitehead, Caleb Williams, John Williams and Daniel Yearta.

Dixie Minor American: Bradley Boyce, Will Gibson, Ty Gilmore, Ivan Gissendaner, Radaress Haynes, Chase Haney, Jackson Henry, Davis Johnston, Dakota Robertson, Tanner Robertson, Cody Rosen and Baker Trammell.

Dixie Minor National: Riley Anderson, Zach Benefield, Caleb Bush, James Doss, Dylan Faircloth, Griffin Fenn, Hunter Jones, Anthony Lamberson, Trevor Mathews, Andrew Price, Reid Potthoff and Justin Warren.

Dixie Youth: Linc Anderson, Hayden Baugh, Casey Boothe, Robbie Derrow, Stephen Dollar, Drew King, Tyler King, Tanner Little, Kyle Morris, Nick Shelley, Jake Williams and Cole Woodruff.

Jr. Dixie Boys: Luke Ates, Joseph Bowick, Stephen Colley, Cody Dudley, Matthew Dunson, Cody Helms, Dakota Hudson, Drexler Jenkins, Hudson Redding, Jontae Robinson, Jeffrey Thornton and Max Winkleblack.

Dixie Boys: Tanner Bickley, Scott Bonner, Brady Buchan, Bo Casey, Patrick Crowe, Jeremy Green, Jim Johnson, Bryan Lee, Colton Leroy, Joshua Mathis, Tanner Sutton and Sam Waters.

Dixie Darlings: Annie Laura Clayton, Morgan Grant, Susanne Hudspeth, Sydney Williams, Lindsey Andrews, Maggie Caldwell, Marhonda Hunter, Breashya Lockhart, Hunter Lynn, Brooke Morris, Ahveon Richardson and Jodie Spivey. 

Dixie Angels: Shelley Beaty, Nikki Clark, Sydney Dowling, Ilyssa Easton, Bryanna Harris, Payton Jones, Murray Margaret Price, Jazzlyn Purswell, Abby Thomas, Laura Turchiano, Emma Tyler and Emily Wurst.

Dixie Ponytails: Chelsea Jones, Angel Long, Madison Adams, Mollie Dollar, Hope Faircloth, Mallori Green, Cheyenne Ingram, Journi Shurtz, Megan Spurlock, Kristen Thomas, George Anne Whitehead and Jessica Wilson.