MOORE — Shannon Enfield remembers the summer of 2008 very well. The Southmoore baseball coach was laying the groundwork for the program’s maiden voyage.
“We were 4-34 the first summer we played,” Enfield said. “We didn’t have a field, any equipment or a stitch of clothing.”
Those days may not be long gone, but they’re clearly in the rearview mirror. Southmoore’s three summer league baseball teams combined to go 92-43 this summer.
Yet it’s the program’s youngest team that has made the biggest mark. Southmoore’s under-14 squad has gone 52-9 this summer and is heading to the American Amateur Baseball Congress’ under-14 Sandy Koufax World Series, which will be played July 28-Aug. 1 in Surprise, Ariz.
Under coach Andrew Twitchell the SaberCats accepted the world series invitation after finishing second to the Tulsa Hurricanes at the AABC Oklahoma state tournament. The Hurricanes were unable to accept the invitation, leaving Southmoore to take the spot.
The double-elimination tournament will feature seven regional champions, a team from Puerto Rico and a team from the host city.
Enfield knows how important it would be to the program if the SaberCats could find a way to take home a national championship.
“It would be huge,” Enfield said. “When you start talking about the world series in any organization, you are talking something huge.”
