Alabama team wins World Series

Thursday ended the 2013 Babe Ruth Baseball 16-18 World Series with the players, parents, organizers and volunteers thrilled to know an Alabama team brought home the title.

Manuel Owens, president of Covington County Babe Ruth, said that hosting the series took a lot of hard work, a little creativity and a lot of patience.

“It was a lot more work than we anticipated with the rain,” Owens said, speaking of the daily weather that forced games from the LBW Community College baseball field to Hammett Holley Sports Complex in Red Level and at Andalusia High School. “It took a lot of volunteer help, but the community was great.”

While some may have thought it odd that the games were held in Red Level, Owens said it was an easy decision to make.

“We went to each field and it was the driest in the county,” he said. “That’s just how it was. The field worked out great as far as play, but it put a lot of work on our volunteers moving stuff back and forth because we never knew from one day to the next where we were going to play.”

By Thursday, the field at LBWCC was dry enough to allow for play – something that everyone was thrilled to learn.

“The kids really wanted to play there,” he said of the title game between the Alabama Raw Dogs of Mobile defeated Southwest champion Mid-County from Texas 2-0. “We wanted to play the whole thing there, but the good Lord wouldn’t let that happen.”

After “a long break,” Owens said the board will begin preparing for the “next one.”

“We’re trying to get the 2014 Southeast Regional Babe Ruth Tournament, that’s a process that’s in the works,” he said. “There’s nothing final on that, but we’re trying.”