The 14u and '00 Knoxville Explosion Teams both traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to compete in the USSSA North Florida State Championships during the weekend of June 7-9.  In search of the best competition in the south, the Knoxville Explosion found what they were looking for in Florida.  Both teams met fierce competition and were matched up against elite teams that are loaded with future college prospects from a hitting and pitching perspective.  Our teams both battled hard and came home with winning records.

The 14u Explosion went 4-2, going 2-0 in pool play only to lose to a very good Citrus Chaos team 6-2 to drop into the losers bracket.  The 14u Explosion then played back to back Storm teams (Florida and Mandrin), winning 5-0 and 14-2.  On Sunday, we met an exceptional Jacksonville Players team that had one of the best defenses in the Florida state tournament.  The 14u Explosion lost a heartbreaker 2-1 with the tieing run on 3rd with two outs in the bottom of the last inning.

The '00 Explosion went on an improbable run to capture runnerup in the USSSA North Florida 12u State Championships!  The '00 Explosion went 8-2, playing 5 in a row to completely stun the entire tournament field, making it the championship game only to run out of gas and get beat by a national contender, the Springfield Georgia '00 Angels.  Folks, Angels are the best 12u team that this organization has personally ever witnessed, rock solid fundamentals, speed, power, defense and pitchers clocked in the upper 50s!  WOW!

It is important to understand that in most southern states, USSSA is the main sanctioning body and most of the best competition exclusively plays in their tournaments.  The remainder of the states play ASA, so for the Knoxville Explosion to venture into this arena was somewhat foreign.  We found what we where looking for and it definitely improved our teams for competing in this prestigious event.  We would like to thank all of the teams that we played from Georgia and Florida and wish them all well for the remainder of the 2013 season!  Great job girls!!!!