Linden had been to the 10U tournament three previous times. It took only one game of the 2009 bracket for this year’s group to best every other Linden squad by winning a game.

“That really exceeded my expectations for them,” said Linden head coach Tim Collins. “We are just so proud of these guys.”

Linden came up just shy of making the championship round for the 10U tournament, going 2-2 on the weekend.

In the first game, Linden took down Florence 4-1 in a battle that was well played by both sides.

The night game for Linden on Saturday was a scoring fest and kept the fans excited until the final out. ONce that out was recorded, Linden had fallen to Alex City 18-14.

Game three was another hit parade, but only for Linden’s side as it demolished Monrovia 19-3. Linden was on fire in the game, putting up 17 hits in its romp over the overmatched Monrovia squad.

The last game for Linden was a win-or-go-home game and the Linden team refused go down without a fight.

Taking on pool leader Matthews Park, Linden was able to take an early 1-0 lead in the third inning before Matthews Park came back to tie the game in the top of the fourth.

The fifth inning was where Matthews was able to pull away. Taking its momentum from the previous inning, Matthews Park put up four more runs to pull ahead 5-1.

Linden’s rally fell short in the sixth and the team bowed out with a 5-2 defeat.

“I think that the whole all-star experience has made everyone of these players improve dramatically,” said Collins of his squad. “We had five nine-year-old starters on the team. This gives us hope for next year.”