Three members of the Carter County Little League – Ava Bayes, Hattie Morgan, and Harper “Boots” Griffith – became World Series Champions on July 23 as their 8u travel team West Virginia Dusters-Cannoy won the Top Gun World Series held in Concord, NC.
The Dusters were placed in the toughest pool bracket with the only two AA ranked teams in the field. Their first game was against an AA Tennessee team Humdingers that turned out to be the Dusters only loss of the weekend. The Dusters rebounded with a 15-0 thumping of the Lady Devils and a 16-0 whipping of the eventual winner of the silver bracket Comets from North Carolina before finishing pool play with a tough win over the other AA team, Knoxville Explosion 8-7.
Bracket play began with the Dusters again playing AA rated Knoxville Explosion winning 8-7 in extra innings. Next up was the undefeated and top seed Extreme Performance from North Carolina. The Dusters were rolling and took out the top seed 8-4. In the Finals the Dusters faced the only team to beat them, the AA rated Humdingers from Bristol, TN. This time the Dusters left no doubt who was the better team winning the finals 10-6 and winning the World Series.
The West Virginia Dusters-Cannoy consists of girls from the tri-state area and ended their 8u season with 49 wins, 7 losses and 2 ties. They won 9 of the 13 tournaments they entered, finishing in second place three times and third once.
Coaches are Adam Cannoy, Courtney Lester, Chris Mellert, and Brian Bayes.