SIKESTON -- Rotary took fourth place in the 6-year-old League this year. The squad went on to lose in the first round of the year-end tournament, but head coach Brent Taylor was pleased with the season.
"At the beginning of the season, I had a team that had never even seen baseball before," explained Taylor. "If you rated the season on the most progress, we would have won the league. My kids went from never playing before to knowing exactly what to do and hitting the ball. They made huge improvements -- more than any team out there."
Graison Calbert played first base, Christopher Smith was at second, Brandon Housman was at short, and Peyton Boyd was on third base.
Austin Bowman was on the pitcher's mound and Louis Galang was behind the plate. The outfield consisted of Chayse Kaminsky, Tyler Kolwyck, Kaleb Newton, Taryn Ramey and Dakota Carr.
Smith, Houseman and Calbert were all named to the all-star team.
"I was proud of every kid out there, they all made improvements," said Taylor. "Dakota wouldn't even go up to bat in the beginning. By the end of the year, she was hitting the ball. We had a little saying: it's not all about winning, it's about learning. And those kids learned."
Members of the 2002 Rotary team in the 6-year-old League of Sikeston Area Youth Baseball are Chayse Kaminsky, Brandon Housman, Tyler Kolwyck, Kaleb Newton, Louis Galang, Taryn Ramey, Dakota Carr, Graison Calbert, Peyton Boyd, Christopher Smith and Austin Bowman. The team was coached by Brent Taylor and Tiger Boyd.