Last fall, parents of Laurens Little League baseball players were inspired to launch a travel team.
“It was the parents’ idea but they asked me and two other coaches at the high school to get it started,” said Tori Patterson, Head Baseball Coach at Laurens District 55 High School. “The majority of the kids on the team are eight and nine years old and we had several from Laurens and a few more from Clinton for a total of 12 on the team.”
Patterson said the name “Laurens County Hitmen” was chosen by the parents, who have also taken the lead on purchasing uniforms, sharing updates on social media and scheduling tournaments.
For a team just getting started, Patterson said they’ve been successful at tournaments so far but he anticipates things continuing to grow as they move forward.
“Once the high school baseball season is over, we’ll crank it up for this summer,” Patterson said. “We’ve played in three tournaments so far and in the first two, we placed runner-up. A lot of these kids haven’t played travel ball before so we’re doing pretty good so far.”
Rec leagues and travel leagues have some differences.
Travel teams tend to play year-round versus a spring or fall season. They also commit to more practices and of course, time on the road.
“These kids are just now getting to the age to start traveling. It’s not for everybody but for those who want to play more and increase their skill, travel ball was originally for the more competitive athletes and the parents who feel like these kids have a future in baseball,” Patterson said.
The majority of that skill will come from practice and the more they grow and the younger they start, the better prepared for high school teams and beyond.
“It pays off in the future,” Patterson said. “I used to coach a travel team and see 90 percent of them on our JV team now. We take pride in developing all kids in our county.”
Your Laurens County Hitmen 9U Tournament Baseball Team includes Foster Brady, Sawyer Davis, Grayson Eubanks, James Aubrey Farmer, Alex Graddick, Ji’Mari Harris, Jack Jay, Pierce Lail, Kohen Moates, Kenson Mode, Carter Moore and Turner Rogers.
They will participate in a few more tournaments this summer.
Fans can follow them on the Laurens County Hitmen 9U Baseball Team Facebook page.