Twelve young ladies from Jackson Parish made memories of a lifetime this past week when the 10U All-Star team finished in 4th place among the 12 teams that competed in the Diamond Youth Softball World Series, held in Laurel, MS, from July 16-19.

Qualifying for the prestigious tournament that fielded nine state champions from across the Southeast United States as runner-up in the 10U Louisiana State Tournament played in Metairie, LA, the local “dandy dozen” played five games, including winning their first three contests.

Under the tremendous guidance of manager Kristen Allen and coaches Cheyenne Allen and Bethany Garner, the team members representing the state of Louisiana were Kylee-Ayn Allen, Malia Gunter, Lyla Hall, Kaylee Hammons, Caylee Mauthe, Ryleigh Puffer, Kadence Sampey, Natalie Sullivan, Mercedes Taylor, River Waggoner, Mez’Meri Walker, and Brenleigh Whitman.

“I am extremely proud of this group. They showed out all summer long,” said JP10U Manager Kristen Allen. “They have come so far from the start. It was a memorable experience being a part of the girls representing Jackson Parish and the state of Louisiana with so much character, grace, and dignity. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.”

With “LOUISIANA” emblazoned across the front of their jersey, signifying the representation of the state, Jackson Parish began the World Series competition by beating Columbia, Mississippi in a thrilling 6-5 pool play game. The locals then entered into bracket play, where they beat Hope Mills, North Carolina 19-0 and Adams, Tennessee 11-9 to advance as one of only three teams to remain undefeated. In a rematch of the Louisiana state championship game, JP10U fell to Jefferson Parish 14-4, setting up an elimination game against Rusk, TX, who defeated Jackson Parish 6-3, who finished with a 3-2 record and in 4th place in the tourney.

The 2026 Diamond Youth Softball World Series champion was Troy, Alabama, who battled back through the elimination bracket after losing in the first round to Saluda, South Carolina, to beat Saluda twice in the championship game. Louisiana’s other representative, state champion Jefferson Parish East, finished in third place, as the state produced two of the top four finishers.

The “final four” finish by JP10U capped off a tremendous All-Star season, which finished with District 4 champions winning 16 games and losing only four. Included was an 11-game winning streak through pre-district, district, and state competition.

World Series Recap For Jackson Parish 10U All-Stars

Jackson Parish 6, Columbia, MS 5 (Game One): Kadence Sampey scored on a grounder by Caylee Mauthe to give Jackson Parish a thrilling “walk-off” victory in extra innings that saw both teams scoring at will early on before the game turned into a pitcher’s duel over the last three innings. Playing under the extra innings rule of putting a player on second base to start the inning after the two teams battled to a 5-5 tie in regulation play, Sampey was placed on second base in the bottom of the extra inning, leading to Mez’Meri Walker getting hit by a pitch to put two runners on base. Natalie Sullivan ground out, advancing both runners. Mauthe then hit a comeback to the Columbia pitcher, who threw to first, but by reading the play, the heady Sampey got a tremendous jump and beat the throw home for the winner. Not overshadowed was the great defensive effort in the top half of the extra frame by Mauthe and Ryleigh Puffer, which put JP10U in position to win. With a runner on second to begin the inning, the Columbia batter hit a slow roller to third baseman Puffer, whose throw to first was late, but the alert Mauthe immediately fired the ball back across the diamond, where Puffer applied the tag to get the runner who was on second out. Winning pitcher Kylee Ayn Allen, who was a game hero in her own right after limiting Columbia to just one hit over the final three innings, then got two consecutive ground outs to keep Columbia scoreless. Both teams came out scoring, taking advantage of erratic pitching and play. Columbia tallied three times in the top of the first without a hit, thanks to two walks, a hit batter, and three errors. Undaunted, JP10U regained the lead in their half of the inning when Natalie Sullivan led off with a single, went to second when Mauthe walked, and scored on Malia Gunter’s single. A ground out by Allen scored the second run, setting up a walk to Brenleigh Whitman and a passed ball that evened the score. Puffer’s ground out led to the fourth run being scored. Columbia came right back to take a 5-4 lead, but once again Jackson Parish rallied thanks to consecutive walks to Kaylee Hammons, Sampey and Walker, leading to yet another walk to Mauthe that tied the game.

Jackson Parish 19 Hope Mills, NC 0 (Game Two): Nine walks and six hit batters by Hope Mills pitching, along with three errors, led Jackson Parish to the easy two and a half inning victory that saw the locals score 11 in the first inning and add 8 more in the second to compile the most runs in a game all summer. Malia Gunter got two of the four hits accumulated by Jackson Parish, with Kylee-Ayn Allen and Ryleigh Puffer also hitting singles. Every player either scored at least one run or had an RBI in the team effort. Scoring twice were Natalie Sullivan, Caylee Mauthe, Puffer, Brenleigh Whitman, Mercedes Taylor, Kaylee Hammonds, Kadence Sampey and Mez’Meri Walker, with Gunter, Allen and Lyla Hall also crossing home plate once. River Waggoner contributed with an RBI. Also coming up big was the duo of Sullivan and Allen, who combined to strike out eight and hold Hope Mill hitless. After Sullivan sandwiched three strikeouts around a walk to hold Hope Mills scoreless in the top of the first, JP10 sent seven batters to the plate and scored five runs before the first out was made. Sullivan started it off with a walk followed by Gunter and Allen hitting singles. A walk to Mauthe led to Puffer getting plunked and Whiman walking. Taylor then became the second JP10U batter to get hit by a pitch. With two outs, Hammonds got hit, Sampey walked, and Walker became the fourth batter to “take one for the team,” leading to Sullivan reaching on a fielder’s choice and Gunter getting her second hit of the inning to plate the 10th and 11th runs. The scoring continued at will in JP10U’s next at bat as Mauthe reached on an error, both Whitman and Taylor walked, and both Hall and Waggoner reached on what was determined as fielder’s choices. Sampey then got plunked with two outs, leading to Walker, Sullivan and Gunter all drawing walks to up the lead to 19-0, which is the way it ended after Allen struck out the side in the top of the third by getting 9 strikes in 14 pitches.

Jackson Parish 11 Adams, TN 9 (Game Three): With the score tied at 6-6, Jackson Parish plated five runs in the last two innings to outscore the game opponent. Caylee Mauthe and Natalie Sullivan led the team’s tournament-best 12-hit attack with three hits each, with Mauthe scoring three runs and knocking in four and Sullivan, who stroked a triple and got hit by a pitch, scoring three runs. Kadence Sampey added a pair of hits and two RBI, while Malia Gunter got a hit and walked twice, leading to her scoring three times. Kylee-Ayn Allen got a hit and knocked in a pair of runs, Ryleigh Puffer added a hit and an RBI, Kaylee Hammons hit a single, got hit by a pitch and scored, and River Waggoner scored a run after walking. Mercedes Taylor walked twice, and Brenleigh Whitman got a free pass. JP10U jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Sullivan and Gunter opened by getting hit by a pitch and singling, respectively, followed by Mauthe knocking in two with a single. Consecutive two-out walks to Brenleigh Whitman, Mercedes Taylor and Lyla Hall brought in the final run of the frame. After falling behind 4-3, JP10U took a two-run lead in the top of the third inning when Sullivan led off with a triple, Gunter walked, and Allen hit a sacrifice grounder to tie the score. Mauthe then hit an RBI single and later scored on an error. With the score tied at 6-6, Jackson Parish opened up a 9-6 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Sullivan got the rally started with a single followed by a walk to Gunter. Three consecutive singles by Allen, Mauthe, and Puffer led to the scoring. Two more runs, which ended up being needed, were added in the top of the sixth when River Waggoner drew a walk and went to second after Kaylee Hammons got hit by a pitch. Kadence Sampey then hit a single that scored both. The runs proved to be crucial as Adams scored three runs in the bottom of the inning on a pair of walks, a fielder’s choice, and two errors before the attempted rally was squelched.

JPRD East 14 Jackson Parish 4 (Game Four): Once again, JPRD East got the best of Jackson Parish, scoring five runs in the top of the first and, after Jackson Parish had clawed back to within one run, blew the game open with seven runs in the top of the fourth. Down five before their first at bat, JP10U showed their grit and determination to narrow the deficit to just one run, as the first six batters reached base before an out was made. Natalie Sullivan stroked a single to get things started and went to second when Malia Gunter walked. A Kylee-Ayn Allen single loaded the bases, leading to consecutive walks to Caylee Mauthe, Ryleigh Puffer and Brenleigh Whitman that narrowed the deficit to 5-3 and left the bases loaded with no one out. Another walk to Lyla Hall made it 5-4, but with the bases still jammed, all three runners were stranded when the JPRD East pitcher buckled down to get a pair of strikeouts.

Rusk, TX 6 JP10U 3 (Game Five): Playing three games in the Saturday afternoon/evening heat and turning around for an early Sunday morning contest took its toll as Jackson Parish opened up a 3-2 lead before simply running out of gas in the late stages. It was a valiant effort that saw JP10U score a run in each of the first three innings as Natalie Sullivan opened the contest by singling and scoring on a Caylee Mauthee grounder to give Jackson Parish a quick 1-0 lead. Rusk came back to score two in the bottom half of the inning, but JP10U came right back to tie when Mercedes Taylor reached on an error and scored on three wild pitches. With Sullivan keeping Rusk in check in their at-bat, JP10U regained the lead in the top of the third when Mez’Meri Walker got hit by a pitch, and Sullivan singled, setting up a sacrifice ground out by Kylee-Ayn Allen after both runners had advanced a base on a wild pitch. JP10U would go hitless the remainder of the way, with only Brenleigh Whitman getting on base with a walk in the top of the fourth inning. Rusk tied the game in the bottom of the frame and then drew ahead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to complete the rally in the contest that saw the lead tied or change hands five times.

2026 10U World Series Team Statistics

NAME	AVG	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	RS	BB	HBP	SB
Natalie Sullivan	.600	10	6	0	1	0	1	8	3	2	2
Malia Gunter	.400	10	4	0	0	0	4	6	4	0	1
Caylee Mauthe	.375	8	3	0	0	0	8	7	4	0	3
Kylee-Ayn Allen	.300	10	3	0	0	0	5	2	1	0	1
Kadence Sampey	.250	8	2	0	0	0	2	4	2	1	0
Ryleigh Puffer	.222	9	2	0	0	0	3	2	1	1	2
Kaylee Hammons	.200	5	1	0	0	0	0	3	2	4	1
Lyla Hall	.000	9	0	0	0	0	3	1	2	0	0
Mez’Meri Walker	.000	5	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	3	0
Brenleigh Whitman	.000	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	0	3
River Waggoner	.000	7	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	0	1
Mercedes Taylor	.000	6	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	1	0
TEAM	.236	89	21	0	1	0	28	43	37	12	14

THANK YOU, SPONSORS!

While the World Series experience was one that won’t ever be forgotten by the coaches, players, family members, and supporters, it was also a costly one, having to pay for four days and nights of lodging, meals, transportation costs, and such. JP10U Manager Kristen Allen expresses her appreciation to all who stepped up to help defray the costs.

“We sincerely appreciate our sponsors,” said Allen. “Thanks to the wonderful support we received, our team was able to come and enjoy something special without a huge financial burden. The way our community stepped up was heartwarming, and we are very proud to say we are from Jackson Parish and surrounding areas.”

JP10U Sponsors:

Jackson Parish Sheriff Brent Barnett
Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Office
Karl Malone Toyota
Hand in Hand Hospice
Golden Gate Nursing
Jackson Parish Hospital
Jackson Parish Ambulance
Louisiana Family Medicine
Chief Bridge & Concrete
Dirt Road Apparel
Jackson Parish Journal
Honey Hush Boutique
Blades Electric Company
Aegis Chemical
Dr. Wyche Coleman
Gibsland Bank and Trust
Jay Morris
Jack McFarland
Benoit Ford
Rachel Rachel McClure Shively
Ables Farm
Culpepper & Carroll
Glenn Kirkland
Jackson Parish Bank
Jonesboro State Bank
Always Evas
Thompson Loan
Pardue Builders
Mitchell’s Pharmacy
La Construction
Stassons Catfish Inn
Animal Clinic
Hodge Bank
Fair Diesel
John McGee
Port Au Prince
Imperative Chemical
Lucky Services
Tanya Norred
Lasalle Lumber
Rob Moore
Farm Bureau
Karl Malone Toyota
Specialty Trackhoe
Keppler Nutrition
McCoy Electric
Shuler Enterprise Alice Shuler
Colby Bowman
Courtesy Chevrolet
Kay’s Designs