Other than the host state, which has three teams competing, no other state had more than one team chosen to participate in the 10U Diamond Youth Softball (DYS) World Series, currently being played in Laurel, MS, which fields state champions from nine states, except one. That is the state of Louisiana represented by 10U state champion Jefferson Parish Recreation Department (JPRD) East and the local “dandy dozen” from Jackson Parish, who finished as state runner-up.
You have to give the DYS organization officials credit. They knew what they were doing when they chose Louisiana as the only other state to be awarded multiple representatives for World Series play. Heading into Saturday evening, only three teams remained unscathed, one of them being Saluda, the state champion from South Carolina. The other two? Both teams from Louisiana.
Some might think it is a surprise for a state runner-up to be one of only three undefeated teams at that point in the competition. They just don’t know how good 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 under the guidance of manager Kristen Allen and coaches Cheyenne Allen and Bethany Garner…