South Carolina teams left their mark at the 2025 Diamond Youth Baseball World Series. 

The Pineview rookie ball and coach pitch teams ran the table and conquered their way to World Series titles. 

The Cayce-West Columbia team advanced to the Division II Majors championship before losing in the final, finishing as the tournament runner-up. 

The rookie and coach pitch games were played in Dunn, North Carolina. Pineview battled through intense heat all week but finished on top and brought home the trophies. 

“The heat was brutal,” coach pitch coach Brandon Marchant said. “ The kids did a great job hydrating and staying in the shade between games.”

The majors tournament was held right here in Lexington County. Games were played at the Lexington Sports Complex and the Midlands Sports Complex. 

Cayce-West Columbia played at the Midlands Sports Complex and had to play around rain and scattered storms all week. 

Pineview Rookie Ball

Pineview’s rookie ball team overwhelmed its competition to win the program’s first World Series title in over 45 years. 

The team went undefeated this summer and outscored its opponents in the district, state and World Series tournaments 303-89.

“It was a great summer. Our team definitely improved between tournaments,” rookie ball coach Brandon Waring said. “ We were confident that if we went up there and continued to play how we had played all summer, that we would be competitive and make a good run.”

Pineview’s players certainly proved themselves at the World Series. The team faced every team in the tournament, except the team from Tennessee, and dominated.

The team won every game by multiple runs. Its closest games came against runner-up Virginia. Pineview and Virginia faced each other twice, including in the title match. Pineview won those games by four and three runs. 

“ They were a pretty good defensive team as well, and they had some good hitters,” Waring said. “We knew it was going to be another good game, as it should be in a World Series Championship.”

Pineview actually trailed early, digging a 4-0 hole by the third inning. The team locked in from there and scored seven runs in the third to take the lead en route to a 10-7 win. 

“ I always tell the guys that winners and champions are those teams and those players that get knocked down, but they always keep getting back,” Waring said. “Our guys definitely responded.”

Waring said the title win was the culmination of all the sacrifices players, coaches and parents made all summer. 

 ”Every single one of these guys contributed,” Waring said. “Everybody brought a really good attitude and really good effort.”

Pineview coach pitch

Not long after the rookie ball team captured its title, the coach pitch team won Pineview its second World Series trophy this summer. 

The coach-pitch team was even more dominant than the rookie team. Pineview outscored its foes 220-34 through the three tournaments. Their defense played at an elite level, especially for the 8U age group. 

“The team is built on defense,” Marchant said. “ They take pride in that, which is very hard to get seven and eight-year-olds to take pride in playing defense.” 

Pineview was tested against the tournament's best before reaching the championship game. The team played runner-up Virginia three times over the course of the week and won every game by at least four runs. 

The team captured the championship trophy after ending the game on a double play at first and third. 

“ That first to third double play, that’s something these kids practice all the time, multiple reps,” Marchant said. “It was just such an amazing thing to see that all their hard work through all the practices paid off to end the game that way.”

Pineview’s program now has two World Series titles after a 45+ year drought. Marchant said it is an indicator that the program is beginning to establish itself as one of the elite DYB programs in the state. 

“ I think the ballpark as a whole has done a tremendous job of putting back in the things that were maybe missing in years prior,” Marchant said. 

Many players on the coach-pitch team are set to advance to AAA ball next season. This is the first year of kid pitch, meaning there will be a bit of a learning curve to overcome. Marchant is confident his all-stars have the skills to overcome and continue their streak of success. 

“The  future's very bright for this young group of baseball players,” Marchant said. 

Cayce-West Columbia D2 Majors

The Cayce-West Columbia Division II majors team finished second in their bracket.

It was a solid tournament for the group as they defeated every team they were matched up against but one. Cayce-West Columbia lost to North Carolina twice in bracket play. 

The first loss came in the fourth round of the tournament and bounced the team into the losers' bracket. 

Cayce-West Columbia responded to that loss well and beat Georgia in a 5-4 thriller to earn its rematch against North Carolina. 

The boys from the Tar Heel state still had the advantage over the host team and knocked off Cayce-West Columbia 8-0. 

Midlands D2 OZONE

The Midland D2 OZONE team served as the host team and finished runner-up in their bracket. 

Midland had a successful run through the tournament, starting with a massive 22-1 win over Arkansas in pool play. 

The team lost its first game of bracket play to Texas in a closely contested match, 5-4, but ran the table in the losers' bracket. The team won its next two games 2-1 and 6-3 before facing Texas in a rematch. 

This time,  Midland got the better of its foe from the Southwest, beating Texas 6-4 in an elimination game. 

Midland moved on to play North Carolina in the next round. North Carolina had yet to lose a game in the tournament, so Midland needed two wins to knock them out of the field. 

Game one was all Midland, winning 4-0.  Game two was a defensive battle, but North Carolina scored the game's lone run, winning and knocking Midland out as tournament runner-up.