SARALAND, Alabama—After surviving an eight-inning showdown with Daphne National in the AAA semifinals Thursday, the Fairhope American All-Stars withstood a championship challenge from Spanish Fort National to win the District 7 crown Friday at Amelia Park in Saraland.

The Fairhope NL club remained undefeated (10-0) through the Sub-District and District 7 contests with the 10-4 title-game victory and advances to the AAA state tournament in Auburn which begins July 20. As runners up, Spanish Fort (7-2) still has a chance to qualify for state by placing first or second in the sub-state tournament in Montgomery beginning Thursday.

“I'm just proud of these kids,” said Fairhope head coach Jeremy Morgan whose team pounded out some early hits and runs to lead 4-0 by the end of the third inning and later led 7-0 before Spanish Fort mounted two serious, but late rallies in the fourth and fifth.

“Pitching. Pitching was key for us tonight and has been from sub-district to right here,” he added. “We're deep in pitching and when any of the guys may have been struggling, we had somebody right there behind them to come in and step it up. So pitching, definitely was the big key overall. But we hit the ball well from the top of the order to the bottom. Each kid swung the bat well and that helped us get to this point, too. Also I think the camaraderie of these kids pulls them together and they help each other, love each other and I think they know that all helps make the team stronger too.”

Spanish Fort coach Wesley Pennington said he was proud of his players as well. “I was proud of the way we played them (Fairhope), especially the first game (Tuesday). We gave ourselves more opportunities in that game than we did tonight and didn't make as many mistakes. Tonight we had some mental lapses on defense and at the plate — swung at bad pitches. And that, I think, was probably the main thing that hurt us tonight. They didn't swing at balls and we did. We just didn't put it in play enough. But I'm proud of these kids. They did not give up or quit.”

Saraland All-Star tournament director Robert Smith, whose Ameila Park organization put on a fireworks display after the final out to cap the tournament, said the event was a big success and the level of competition was one of the highest he has seen.

“Been doing this a while and this year, we saw some really good teams get after it. These two, Fairhope and Spanish Fort are two of the best I've seen at this level. Fairhope could go all the way at Auburn and Spanish Fort has a good chance of winning at sub-state and getting to Auburn, too. But the weather cooperated and I want to thank everybody who pitched in and helped get the field ready. They were great and the fireworks were fun and we hope everybody had a good time.”

Amelia Park is also in the midst of a fundraiser for one of their hometown players. Colby Sawyer, a nine-year-old Saraland All-Star player was injured at the park in June. The unusual bruise which resulted prompted further medical tests and Colby has been diagnosed with two types of leukemia, said organizer Lisa Smith.

“He has responded well to the initial chemo treatment but then when he went back they found a second type,” she said. “On July 20, they will find out whether he needs a bone-marrow transplant. We hope he does not, of course, but we're going to keep raising money to help them out as much as we can.”

Each AAA (Minor League) All-Star player wore a ribbon for Colby pinned to their uniform during the tournament.

“We are selling T-shirts and have a raffle going,” Smith said. “We sold out of the first batch of shirts, but we're getting more.”

For more information about the fundraiser efforts contact Lisa Smith at 251-463-4677 or lisawsmith24@att.net

Following are earlier scores from the tournament of 11-teams which included seven from Baldwin County.

Thursday —Spanish Fort NL 11, Bay Minette 6; Fairhope American 8, Daphne National 5 (eight innings). Tuesday — Bay Minette 4, Foley 3 (eliminated); Fairhope AL 4, Spanish Fort NL 1; Daphne NL 4, Fairhope NL 0 (eliminated). Monday — Foley 4, Saraland NL 2 (eliminated); Bay Minette 9, Municipal NL 6 (eliminated); Daphne NL 5, Saraland AL 2 (eliminated); Fairhope AL 7, Fairhope NL 3. Sunday — Saraland AL 13, Central Baldwin 7 (eliminated); Daphne NL 14, Municipal AL 0 (eliminated); Fairhope NL 12, Foley 5; Fairhope AL 15, Saraland NL 0; Spanish Fort NL 16, Municipal NL 8. Saturday — Municipal NL 10, Daphne NL 9; Spanish Fort NL 3, Municipal AL 2; Fairhope AL 16, Saraland AL 2; Saraland NL 15, Central Baldwin 5; Fairhope NL 17, Bay Minette 8.