Lexington County recently played host to the 2025 Diamond Youth Baseball World Series championships. 

Teams from all over the country convened in Lexington County to put their skills to the test and represent their state against other top talent. The county hosted the championships for DYB’s three oldest groups in both Division I and II. 

The six separate tournaments were played at two different sites in the county. The Lexington sports complex hosted all three Division I tournaments, while the Midlands Sport Complex hosted the Division II games.  

Many of the teams in attendance have been together for years. The kids have worked their way up through the DYB ranks together and reached this moment thanks to their hard work and dedication.

 ”A lot of these guys played together since they really started playing baseball at our park in Montgomery,” Alabama AAA coach Robbie Abt said. “ It's just a blessing to be with these guys. They're really good baseball players. They work hard. They listen to everything we ask them to do. We just had a great run this year.” 

Abt’s team won the Division I AAA World Series Championship, beating Texas 2-1 in the title game. 

It was a strong showing for the state of Alabama, which won three of the six titles up for grabs. The Division I majors team from Troy beat South Carolina in their championship game, and the Division II O zone team from Wicksburg beat North Carolina. 

“There’s a lot of good baseball in Alabama,” majors coach Adam Brookins said. “Diamond Youth does a really good job in Alabama. I’m proud of our directors and what they’re able to put together.”

Stormy weather shook up the schedule during the week, especially on the championship day. However, a little rain did not dampen the mood of those teams who went on to win their championships. 

Championship day was an action-packed slate of baseball. 

Abt’s Alabama team played Texas twice in the span of about five hours to clinch its title. The team could’ve clinched the championship in game one, but lost, giving Texas a sliver of hope. 

In a low-scoring game two, Alabama locked in and scored a pair of runs late to take the lead and hold on for the win. Alabama played Texas four times in the tournament and won three out of four to hoist the trophy. 

“Texas is a great team,” Abt said. “ They gave us all we wanted. If you'd have told me we had to beat them three out of four times to win the thing, I'd have said, that's going to be a tough hill to climb. The guys did a great job and responded even there in that last game when we were down.”

While the team’s time together is done for the summer, it was a journey Abt will never forget, and he hopes his team doesn’t forget it either. 

“ It's been fun to watch them work and develop and grow and mature,” Abt said. “It's like we're a big family.”

Brookins' team beat South Carolina in the championship game after South Carolina eliminated Virginia to qualify earlier in the day. This was the third meeting between the two teams after splitting their previous two meetings. 

Alabama controlled most of the game, but South Carolina looked like it was going to storm back in the seventh inning. The score was cut to two runs in the seventh inning and South Carolina had the go-ahead runs on base with one out to go. 

The game ended after a popped ball hit towards Alabama’s shortstop was caught. The team immediately swarmed the mound and dogpiled on top of each other with nothing but joy on their faces. 

“ Sometimes you feel like are you going to be as good as we know we are?” Brookins said. “It feels really good to finally prove it.”

Team South Carolina won the third Division I tournament on championship day. The group from North Myrtle Beach knocked off the team from Mississippi to win the O zone title.  

“ This is the third time we've gone to the DYB state tournament, got third place and second place, and this time we've gone all the way to the World Series and got this win,” head coach Dan Brin said. “Third time the charm.” 

Team S.C.’s game was not nearly as close as the two Alabama games from championship day. The team beat Mississippi 9-1 behind a dominant performance from its pitcher on the mound. 

The team’s depth was depleted as the tournament went on. Multiple players suffered injuries and had to sit out the championship game, but the rest of the group overcame. 

“ All of our kids can almost play every position, and so the big thing we start with is, do you trust the guy next to you? And everybody does,” Brin said. 

Over at the Midland Sports Complex, Florida beat Alabama 2-1 in the Division II AAA championship game, North Carolina beat the host team South Carolina 8-0 in the majors championship and in O zone, Alabama beat North Carolina 8-5.