By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



A young batter steps to the plate with a look of determination on his face.

His uniformed coach goes into a shortened wind-up and releases the ball.

There’s a “clink” of the aluminum bat, followed by a loud ovation from the covered bleachers alongside the first and third base lines.

For a team from Marietta, Ga., this game is all-or-nothing — if they lose to a team from Northport, they go home.

This drama is nothing new to the parents and coaches who have come to Gardendale and Fultondale for the Dizzy Dean 7-year-old World Series.

Brandy Dickson of Northport was at Moncrief Park Tuesday supporting her son, Brody Dickson, a first baseman for the Northport Nationals.

“We’ve played two and lost one,” Dickson said. “If we lose this one, we’re out.”

Dickson said this is her family’s second world series and they’ve found plenty to do in Gardendale and Fultondale, including shopping and swimming at their hotel, the Best Western in Gardendale.

She said after her experience, she would gladly come back to Gardendale and Fultondale if she didn’t have to.

“The people and coaches have been excellent; a class act,” she said.

Outside the ballpark, employees from Mordecai Sporting Goods on Main Street in Gardendale sell t-shirts, sunglasses, eye-black and batting gloves. The store can also take the face of Dizzy Dean off the world series t-shirts and substitute it for the image of a player’s face.

“Everybody has been so nice,” said Nita Mordecai. “They’ve [series visitors] have told us how nice everybody from Gardendale and Fultondale has been, so that means a lot.”

The mayors of the two cities said they had also received positive comments from coaches and parents.

Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery said he had been under the weather and had not been able to make it to as many games as he would have liked. However, he said he appreciated hearing the positive comments about the city’s new athletic complex, located next to the elementary school.

“We’ve had several tournaments at the fields before, so we’ve gotten a lot of use out of it right out of the gate,” he said.

Mayor Kenny Clemons said now that the cities have hosted one tournament, it should be something to consider again in the future.

“Once you know how it’s set up, it will be easier to do another one,” he said.

It’s been a long road for all 47 teams involved, but the thought of winning it all is worth the travel and a second day of temperatures hovering near the 100-degree mark.

“We started our regular season in February, so it’s been going on almost all year,” said parent Steve Connelly, whose son, Jack plays left field for the Sandy Plans Cougars of Marietta. “We have one-and-a-half weeks of summer left before school starts back.”

Connelly said this was his first visit to Gardendale and Fultondale, though he travels to Birmingham for business. He said he had been impressed with how the series has been organized.

“It’s been very well-run,” he said. “The temperature has been warm, so for the safety of the kids, I would have preferred more night games.”

Connelly and his family have been staying at the Embassy Suites in Birmingham, where he said they’ve done a lot of swimming when not baking at the ballparks.

The heat was also a concern to Coach Erin Hurd of the Bill Bond All Stars from Pensacola, Fla.

He said Dizzy Dean rules normally allow a team to play only two games a day, but if his team won both scheduled games on Tuesday, they would have to play a third game.

The heat has been an issue for his team, especially a tough Monday afternoon game that went into extra innings. He said one challenge is that umpires will not let parents enter the field to give a cold rag to a child if they are not in a full uniform.

“We just give them lots of water, cold rags and no caffeine,” he said. “The weather’s been a little hot, but we’re used to that in Florida.”