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EDENTON – The Ahoskie 10u All-Stars are the champions of the District 7 tournament.

Ahoskie completed their undefeated run through the tournament field here Thursday night where they defeated the Currituck County All-Stars, 29-8.

“Our boys played really, really well throughout the District tournament,” said Chris Burby, head coach of the 10u Ahoskie All-Stars. “It fills my heart with happiness to see them earn the championship trophy after all the work they put in.”

Burby also expressed gratitude for the support the Ahoskie All-Stars had at the District tournament, which began July 3, but took longer than expected to complete due to postponements due to the weather.

“We are so grateful to the families and the fans from our hometown who made many trips to Edenton to support us, especially in our last two games. Our crowd was loud and proud,” Burby exclaimed.

The Ahoskie All-Stars opened the 10-team District tournament with a hard fought 5-3 win over OBX. The teams bats heated up in game two where they posted a 15-3 victory against Elizabeth City.

Those two wins advanced Ahoskie to the winner’s bracket finals of the double elimination tournament against Currituck. In that contest, held Tuesday night, Ahoskie jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Currituck rallied to tie the game at 7-7 in the top of the sixth inning. Ahoskie won it in the bottom of the sixth where Matthew Burby slapped a “walk-off” single to right, scoring Noah Brock with the game-winning run.

Currituck came out of the loser’s bracket to meet up with Ahoskie again in the District championship series on Thursday. Currituck led 5-2 before Ahoskie rallied to grab a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Combining timely hits around numerous walks, Ahoskie blew the game open by scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the fourth for a commanding 16-5 lead before adding 13 runs in the fifth inning to seal the win and grab the first-place trophy.

Ahoskie will represent District 7 at the Tar Heel League State Tournament, which begins July 27 in Washington. There, Ahoskie will square off against the District 1 champion at 6 p.m. in opening round action.

The trip to the state finals will be an opportunity of a lifetime for the Ahoskie kids. It will also be a special moment for coaches Chris Burby and Brian Lassiter.

“In 1984, my dad (Chip Burby) coached Brian and I in the District All-Star tournament, which we won and then went on to finish in third place at the state tournament,” Chris recalled. “Now, here we are, 39 years later, coaching together and coaching our sons on this team, and my dad was at the District tournament cheering us on. How special is that?”