For years, for reasons based on both geography and the horrors of segregation, Tennessee youth baseball wasn’t tied to Little League. Sure, there were a few teams over the years that opted for Little League over Dixie Youth or one of the other organizations, but Little League just wasn’t a Southern phenomenon. That all changed when Goodlettsville advanced to the Little League World Series in 2012. Both Goodlettsville and South Nashville had runs to Williamsport in the ensuing years — it was enough for Middle Tennesseans to become adepts at the quirks of Little League: keeping up with who on the roster had met the organization’s everyone-must-play rule and monitoring pitch counts. The plucky kids from Nolensville made it to Pennsylvania this year, providing an entertaining brand of baseball that seemed to rely on come-from-behind wins and the kind of enthusiasm only preteens are capable of. Though the team ran into a Hawaiian buzzsaw, they, like their predecessors, captured Tennessee hearts in the sweltering heat of late August.
Best National Showing
