The Troy 15U All-Star team wrapped up a second-place finish in the State Tournament in Eufaula.

It was a short turnaround for coach James Sparrow’s team, but despite the lack of practice time, Troy was able to claw their way to a second-place finish.

“The boys played really well,” Sparrow said. “It was a short turnaround. I think we had a total of five practices before we were supposed to play. They came to practice every day and they played hard. They bonded well and gelled as a team. They were a loose bunch of guys and they played loose.

“They really went down there in that short amount of time and competed really well.”

The biggest challenge for Sparrow and his coaching staff was to put his players in the right positions leading into the tournament.

“It was more difficult trying to figure out where to put everybody,” Sparrow said. “They’re all baseball players. They have all played ball since they were four and five years old.”

Pitching was an area of concern for Sparrow and his staff going into Eufaula, but it turned into a pleasant surprise by the time they left.

“We were a little apprehensive about whether or not we were going to have enough pitching,” Sparrow said. “Logan (Boyce) and Tripp (Spivey) in our first two games basically threw complete games. Tripp threw a no-hitter against Ozark.”

Throughout pool play, Sparrow’s pitcher racked up the innings.

“In all our pool play games, our starter basically threw complete games,” Sparrow said. “I had to bring one guy in just to save on some pitches. Our starting pitcher really went deep in pool play. That saved us for the championship. We had everybody available except for a player that could pitch.”

Troy will have the option to play in the upcoming World Series in Ozark. They will make their decision over the upcoming days.

“I haven’t heard back from everybody,” Sparrow said. “We have seven that want to. This isn’t like the Dixie set up. This is more of a travel ball setup where anybody that wants to go can pay the entry fee to play in the tournament. Right now, we still don’t know if I am going to have everybody. I feel like the 11 we have can go down there in that World Series and compete.”

The Troy 15U team included Logan Boyce, Marx Copeland, Press Jefcoat, Ja’Quavian Johnson, Scott Taylor Renfroe, Jackson Senn, Levi Sikes, Bailey Sparrow, Jacob Spivey, Austin Spivey and Tripp Spivey.