By Kendall Patterson
Editor
After going from chanting “We are CC” to chanting “We are Tennessee,” the Chester Sweetees can now chant “We are champions” because they won the Dixie Sweetees X-Play World Series last Tuesday night after defeating Alabama’s team 19-15.
Coaches Chris Cooksey, Ryan Wilson, Josh Quarles, Kayla Lott and Kyle Connor could not be more proud of the girls.
The growh of the girls from the start of the season to the moment they won the world series is something to cheer for, because the coaches did not expect to win it all once the team was formed.
Coach Lott recalled when Cooksey asked her to help coach.
“He looked at me and said ‘Alright, you ready to take these girls to the World Series?’ I thought that’s as farfetched as I can possibly get. I don’t want to say I don’t want to take them to the World Series, but let’s see how the first practice goes and when we won and all the girls dog-piled him I looked at him and said, ‘we did it coach,’” she said.
The coaches mentioned how the girls came from learning to swing the bat and catch to getting triples andgetting multiple outs in one play on defense.
The girls, parents and coaches quickly became one family during the season, and they are still in touch though its all over.
“We are a huge family,” Cooksey said.
The coaches said that though they all helped in coaching the girls, Connor was the one who kept them pepped up.
“When we left district, Kyle really started getting involved with the girls. He would come in the dugout, and they would gather around him and pay him attention…When we got to state, they’re watching him. They’re listening… When we got to the World Series, all of us knew we had no business talking to them, because he’s the one that’s going to get out there and talk to them, and he’s the one who kept their spirits up,” Wilson said.
The coaches thanked the community for all that they had done for the Sweetees team in raising money for them to not only go to the World Series but win it. “There were people who tried to stay anonymous through it all that definitely put more than I would have ever thought into a five and six year old team,” Cooksey said.
