By By Houghton
Special for the Record
The Madison Maulers, an 11U competitive baseball team in Madison, put the finishing touches on a great season with a seventh place finish out of 108 teams in the USSA 11U AAA World Series held in Overland Park, Kan.
The team consists of 11 boys. They include Jaime Dennis, Stephen Denton, Jaren Hall, Scot Hammond, Bobby Harward, Brian Houghton, Michael Moxley, Chris Mullin, Aaron Sherrill, Harrison Tyler and Carter Weiland. Bob Houghton, Jeff Hall, Keith Denton and John Hammond coach the team.
The Maulers qualified for the World Series with its second place finish in the Alabama State Championship held earlier this summer. They also qualified at two other tournaments throughout the season, including a national invitational held in Southaven, Miss., and a World Series qualifier in Huntsville. The team is in its second season of competitive baseball.
The team started off the World Series week with an outing to see the Kansas City Royals play the Cleveland Indians in a doubleheader. They were recognized at the game with the team name appearing on the scoreboard. At the opening ceremonies, the team got the opportunity to exchange pins and stories with players from the other 107 teams in the series.
The Maulers went 3-0 over the next two days, giving up only 10 runs in those games to earn a 10-seed out of the 54 teams that made the championship round of the tournament. The team defeated the Greenwood Storm 2-1, St. Charles Saints 7-4 and Montgomery Elite 11-5. They proceeded to win their first two games in the double elimination bracket against the Fayette County Reds 9-6 and the Kansas City Hitmen 8-3. The team suffered its first loss of the tournament against the Oregon Park Grizzlies 5-9.
They rebounded with a win against another Alabama team, the Alabaster All-Stars 8-4. The World Series run was over when the Maulers were defeated in the bottom of the sixth on a great comeback by the Colleyville Bombers 12-10.
In those games, the Maulers got outstanding pitching out of all that stepped on the mound. Aaron Sherrill pitched three complete games and recorded a record of 3-0. Other pitchers earning wins were Brian Houghton (2) and Harrison Tyler (1). Sherrill, Houghton and Chris Mullin each recorded pickoffs from the mound.
Catcher Jared hall threw out four runners and put out several others on plays at the plate. Carter Weiland (SS), Houghton (3B), Bobby Harward (2B) and Jaime Dennis (1B) combined for five double plays on the tournament and Stephen Denton, Mullin and Sherrill each putout runners from the outfield trying to advance after a hit or catch.
Michael Moxley and Tyler led the team with putouts from the outfield with both of them putting out several runners at first from RF. Scot Hammond contributed with excellent base running, scoring on all but one opportunity.
Sherrill also led the team in offense recording 6-1B, 4-2B, 1-3B and 3-HR for an incredible batting average of .560 and a slugging percentage of 1.160. Weiland, Harward, Houghton, Denton and Hall also added extra-base hits, with Weiland and Harward hitting .478 and .500 respectively for the tournament.