AHOSKIE – The Ahoskie 8U All-Stars captured the championship of the Eastern Albemarle Region Baseball Tournament Sunday at Ahoskie Creek Park with a 16-6 win over the Cashie All-Stars of Windsor.

Owen Black led the way for the youngsters after he went three-for-four with a triple and two doubles and drove in four runs.  Sawyer Chamblee also hit a triple for Ahoskie.

All 12 players played in the title game for Ahoskie and 10 of them scored.

Ahoskie swept three games over three days, and did so with plenty of offense.  They defeated Cashie in their first game, 14-0; then topped Camden, 20-8 before Sunday’s finale to go 3-0.  As All-Stars the team overall went 5-2.

“The kids came out every game, played hard, did their best, and I couldn’t have been prouder of them,” said Coach Andy Babyak.  “They practiced hard, they played hard, and their parents brought them out faithfully, they were really a joy to coach.”

Babyak said combining the 8’s with the 9-10 All-Stars gives Ahoskie quite a lot of potential for next year.

“They’re really strong and there’s a lot of talent in the league so I expect everyone next year to be very competitive,” he added. “Thanks to Mrs. Pritchard (Parks & Recreation Director, Tina); Ahoskie is becoming a baseball town.

Despite the 10-run deficit, the Cashie All-Stars vindicated themselves well.  They came out of the loser’s bracket after dropping their first game to make it to the title game.

Conner Ferebee, Coleen Askew, and Noah Cottle all went two-for-three for Cashie.

“Up and down the line-up I think we hit pretty good in this game,” said Cashie coach Tommy Wells. “We started out playing with a pitching machine four days ago.  I can’t ask for much better than second-place from these kids and I can’t wait until next year because I know we’ll be better.”