Pineview’s Diamond Youth Baseball program has a bright future ahead.

Two of its youngest teams recently competed in the South Carolina Rookie and Coach Pitch All-Stars Division II State Championships, winning both and advancing to the World Series later this month for the first time.

“We’re the first team to make it to a coaches pitch World Series, and rookie ball is the first team to make it to a rookie ball World Series,” Pineview 8u coach Brandon Marchant said. “Both in the same year, it’s remarkable in my opinion.”

Rookie ball is the youngest age group in Diamond Youth Baseball, featuring kids aged four to six. The coach pitch division is the next step up, with kids aged seven to eight taking the field.

Despite their young age, Marchant said the kids at Pineview are among the most disciplined children he has met.

“Their attention span, it’s pretty good,” he said. “Us coaches have coached it to them, but it’s a lot of credit to them. They want to be good, they want to make the plays, they want to have the big hit, and ultimately, at the end of the day, they just want to win as a team.”

Both the rookie and coach pitch teams went unbeaten during their route to the state title. The teams displayed a level of dominance that separated them from the competition.

Marchant’s coach pitch team blew past anyone who stood in their way. The team went 11-0 through district and state play and enters the World Series having outscored its opponents 146-19.

“This team is really built around each other,” Marchant said. “These kids would rath-

er celebrate their teammate’s success over their own success. We have a team slogan, which we started before, and it’s find a way. So we preach to them, ‘find a way no matter what.’”

The coach pitch team is led by captains Lucas Ward and Landry Marchant, Brandon’s son. Those are the guys they rely on to “get the team right,” Marchant said.

Then, there are Hank Bru- ruk and Grayson Thomas, whom the coach credited with having great hitting performances. Noah Lawson, Dax- ton Lloyd, Tyler Olson and Luke Faulkenberry contributed great defense.

Rounding out the team are Christian Zaengle, Brayden Lodge, Lukas Waters and Hunter Mackles, whom Marchant said all contributed in one way or another.

While the players are a big reason for the team’s success, the community, volunteers and parents who support both the rookie and coach pitch teams also played a large part.

“The ballpark is really ral- lied around both teams,” he said. “ They’re a close-knit family at this point. They love each other.”

The next stop for the pair of Pineview teams is the Diamond Youth World Series. Both teams will play in Dunn, North Carolina, with the opening ceremonies set for July 24.

Marchant is confident his team can compete and show that South Carolina has some of the best young players around.

“We should be the team to beat,” he said. “That’s not being cocky or anything. We’re just a confident group. These kids believe in their ability. They work hard, and us coaches just love being around them.”

The team is currently raising funds to help cover the cost of their trip to the World Series. As the vice president

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of the team’s board, Marchant plays a large role in finding community sponsors and donations.

There are sponsorship packages available to help the team make the trip. With a sponsor- ship, a company can place its logo on the team banner as it plays at the event. A $1,000 donation gets a large logo, a $500 donation gets a small logo and anything below gets their name printed on the banner.

Each team also has an active GoFundMe link for people in the community to contribute to. The rookie link can be found at gofundme.com/f/donate-to-pineview-rookie-allstars-world-series-dream. While the coach pitch link is gofundme.com/f/south-carolina-boys-aim-for-dyb-world-series-dreams.

Marchant said any donations go a long way in helping kids have an experience they will always remember.

“At the end of the day, this is something these seven and eight-year-olds are never going to forget.”

Pineview’s 2025 journey may be nearing an end. From here on out, the teams will focus exclusively on preparing for the upcoming World Series and finishing the business they set out to achieve.

“We’ve got three stops on this trip,” Marchant said. “The first one’s districts, and we finished that stop. Second stop was the state tournament, and we finished that stop. Now we’ve got one more stop left, and our mission is to complete that.”