Three runs by Concordia Parish in the top of the third inning was the difference as Jackson Parish fell 6-3 to finish in third place in the 2023 Dixie Youth 11U state tournament played at Tinsley Park in Bossier City.

Oh, so close! Jackson Parish earned a first round bye in the single elimination portion of the championship bracket by beating Minden and Franklinton in Pool Play. Needing only one more win to qualify for the Dixie Youth World Series, the locals battled hard playing Concordia to a standstill for five of the six innings played. 

“I am really proud of the guys for the way they battled,” said head coach Steven Moak. “We hit the ball well and played good defense and could have won if we had had a little better luck, but it was one of those games where everything we hit was right at someone.”

Jackson Parish made the coaching staff of Moak, Juddy Rogers and Brad Spillman along with the local fans proud by showing their resilience time and again during All-Star competition.

The locals showed determination and grit from the very first game of District 8 tournament play. In their opening round loss, JP11U was down 5-2 but battled back to come to within a run. In the next game and facing elimination, JP11U found themselves down again but this time completed the rally to stay alive.  Fighting their way through the losers bracket, Jackson Parish made it all the way to the district championship contest where they fell behind by four runs but once again rallied to tie before falling by one run in the last inning.

“We had our backs against the wall several times but ended up going a long way,” reflected Moak. “This loss doesn’t overshadow the accomplishments that this team made.” 

A perfect example is the last gasp rally attempt in the bottom of the sixth inning against Concordia. For three consecutive innings JP11U failed to get a hit as each time a ball was put in play it seemingly was magnetized to a glove. Now they were down to their final at bat, needing three runs to stay alive. 

As fate would have it, Jackson Parish would go down, but they went down scratching and clawing. With Ryan Sandifer opening with a single and Andrew Brown coaxing a walk, JP11U had the tying run at the plate before the final out was made. 

“The guys gave it everything they had and never quit,” said Moak. “That is all a coach can ask for.”

The contest started with Concordia jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning only to see Jackson Parish respond with two of their own. Cason Rogers got things started by drawing a one out walk and then stealing second and third. Colton Otwell brought him in with a single and then stole his way around to third before scoring on a wild pitch. 

Concordia scored a run in the top of the second but once again JP11U rallied to tie when Lucas Bandy singled, stole second and scored when Sandifer singled, knotting the game at 2 apiece. 

That set up the top of the third inning that saw Concordia sandwich a pair of seeing eye groundball singles with a double and then follow with a bloop single to centerfield that accounted for the decisive three runs. 

Sandifer led the locals with two of the four singles gained off Concordia pitching with Bandy and Otwell  getting the other two. Noah Spillman, Rogers, Jake Moak and Brown also reached via walks. Rogers, Spillman, and Otwell all stole a pair of bases with Bandy, Brown and Moak swiping one each.