The Sliders 12U baseball team is the 2026 USSSA Global World Series Champion. Showing tremendous grit and determination, the Jackson Parish-based travel ball team claimed the championship in Gulfport, MS, on June 19-21 by playing 6 games in 3 days,which included winning 3 back-to-back games on the final day of the tournament to win the championship.
The 10-man squad opened the tournament held at the Gulfport Sportsplex and Rusty Quave Sportsplex in D’Iberville, Mississippi, by beating the Swampers 12U 17-6 and GNO Sharks 12U 7-5 on Friday, June 19th. A 7-6 loss in extra innings to OPA Jays Hansen 12U put the locals in the losers’ bracket, where they stormed back on Sunday to beat Premier Athletics 12U 9-3 and Mayhem 12U 7-6 to earn a shot at the title. The championship game was a rematch against OPA Jays Hansen, where Sliders exploded for 6 runs in the top of the 7th inning to win 13-9 and claim the championship.
The team’s coaches are Larry Ponder, Heath Davis, Dusty Burton, and Lance Davis. Team members are Mason Tolar, Clay Burton, Asher Norred, Maddox Graham, Brock Craighead, Kutter Blalock, Cruz Nomey, Bentley Ponder, Luke Davis, and Koplen Taylor.
USSSA Global World Series Results
Sliders 17 Swampers 6 (Game One): Nine runs in the first inning and eight more in the second were all that was needed to win the contest that was called after three innings per the 10-run rule. Taking advantage of 13 walks, the Sliders got five hits, led by two from Koplen Taylor, that included a double, 3 RBI, and a run scored. Mason Tolar (3B, 3 RS, 2 RBI), Brock Craighead (2B,2 RS, RBI), and Asher Norred ( RS, RBI) got the other hits. Additional contributors were Luke Davis (3 RS), Maddox Graham (2 RS), Kutter Blalock (2 RS), Clay Burton (2RS), and Cruz Nomey (RS).
Sliders 7 GNO Sharks 5 (Game Two): Three runs in the first and again in the third inning opened up an insurmountable five-run lead. Capitalizing on walks to Luke Davis, Brock Craighead, and Maddox Graham, sandwiched around a single by Mason Tolar and Koplen Taylor reaching on an error, staked the locals to an early 3-0 lead. After GNO closed the gap to 3-2, Clay Burton doubled to open the second inning and scored on a Tolar groundout to up the lead to 4-2. Craighead and Asher Norred drew walks, and both Graham and Cruz Nomey got hit by a pitch to score one run, followed by Clay Burton smashing a double to up the lead to 7-2.
OPA Jays Hansen 7 Sliders 6 (Game Three): After spotting OPA a five-run lead, the Sliders came storming back to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the sixth inning, only to see OPA score two in the bottom of the final frame. Koplen Taylor opened the top of the fifth inning with a single, which led to four straight hits by Brock Craighed, Kutter Blalock, Maddox Graham, and Luke Davis with one out, which led to the Sliders tying the game at 5 runs each at the end of regulation play. Using extra inning rules of having a runner on second, Koplen Taylor hit a single, advancing runner Nomey to third, leading to a balk that gave the Sliders a 6-5 advantage. To their credit, OPA scored twice in their at-bat to advance to the championship game.
Sliders 9 Premier Athletics 3 (Game Four): Faced now with a do-or-die situation, the Sliders rallied from a 3-1 deficit by plating 6 runs in the fifth with two outs and then adding 2 more in the sixth inning to win going away. The game-winning rally began with Clay Burton reaching on a dropped third strike, setting up a two-out single by Mason Tolar that scored the first run. Koplen Taylor then reached on an error, followed by Brock Craighead lacing a two-run double to give the Sliders their first lead at 4-3. After Kutter Blalock walked and Maddox Graham got plunked by a pitch, Luke Davis slammed a triple to up the lead to 7-3. Crux Nomey and Koplen Taylor both hit singles and scored in the top of the sixth inning for the final margin.
Sliders 7 Mayhem 6 (Game Five): Down 6-5 in their final at bat, Luke Davis led off with a home run to tie the score, setting up a Cruz Nomey walk-off single that scored Clay Burton, who had walked and stolen two bases to get in scoring position. The Sliders had taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Mason Tolar, Koplen Taylor, and Brock Craighead hit consecutive singles to break up the scoreless pitchers’ duel. That led to Luke Davis slamming a home run in the bottom of the fourth to put the Sliders up by three. Mayhem shocked the Sliders with 6 runs in the top of the fifth, but showing a die-hard attitude, the Sliders came right back to cut the gap to 6-5 by scoring twice with two outs when Craighead walked, and Kutter Blalock singled, leading to Maddox Graham hitting a clutch double.
Sliders 13 OPA Jays Hansen 9 (Championship Game): With both teams playing championship caliber ball, the Sliders exploded for 6 runs in the top of the 7th inning to roll past OPA and gain revenge of the loss earlier in the tournament in the contest that saw both teams combine for 25 hits, including a tournament best 14 by the Sliders. The winning at-bat started with Koplen Taylor singling, advancing Mason Tolar to third after Tolar was placed on 2nd to open the frame per the extra-inning protocol. Brock Craighead and Kutter Blalock followed with base hits, leading to both Maddox Graham and Luke Davis reaching base on ground balls that were ruled as fielder’s choices. Cruz Nomey followed with a 2 RBI single to score the final runs. Blalock (2B, 4 RS, 2 RBI) led the hit parade with four hits, followed closely by Brock Craighead (HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 3 RS) and Luke Davis ( 5RBI), who had three hits each. Koplen Taylor ( 2 RS) added a pair of hits, and both Crux Nomey (2 RBI) and Asher Norred (2B) got a hit apiece. Mason Tolar scored twice, and Maddox Graham scored a run and knocked one in to add to the Sliders’ championship game-winning effort.
Tourney Recap:
As a team the Sliders got 48 hits in 143 at bats for a .336 team batting average. Included was 10 doubles, 3 triples and 3 home runs in the six games played that saw every player get at least two hits in the tournament and an extra base hit. Individually, final tournament stats were as follows:
| Player | BA | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | RS | BB |
| Brock Craighead | .538 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| Koplen Taylor | .476 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| Kutter Blalock | .467 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 5 |
| Luke Davis | .412 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 3 |
| Cruz Nomey | .286 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Mason Tolar | .273 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| Maddox Graham | .231 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Clay Burton | .154 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Asher Norred | .133 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |