By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
Hope Mills, North Carolina had taken a page out of the Sebring legacy.
For two years, the junior Streak All-Stars had been the dominant team in the Dixie Ozone World Series, taking back-to-back championships with nary a challenge.
With that group of ballplayers moving on and trying to continue their dynasty at the Pre-Boys level, the team from suburban Fayetteville seemed to be taking their place.
They had run roughshod over the field, outscoring their opponents 64-5, including a 12-1 win over Sebring's current representatives Tuesday night.
Team Florida had bounced back from that loss with a 5-1 win over Kosciusko, Miss., Wednesday, setting up a rematch for the title.
And in that Thursday contest, Sebring gave Tar Heel nation quite a scare.
Hope Mills was in its' third straight Ozone World Series, with four returning starters from last year's squad, while Team Florida, while also in it for the third straight year, had a whole new starting squad this time around.
Though it was a bench player from last year's team, Everett Hurst who had taken in last year's big run and knew the feeling to be on the big stage.
And so it was that he and NCs Christian Jayne locked horns for a good old fashioned pitchers duel extraordinaire.
Inning by inning the hurlers matched each others' goose eggs, save for an unearned run early on where Hope Mills combined an error and a pair of hits to get on the board.
And as the innings went on, the intensity grew, as both offenses were stymied, but each with the potential to break it open at any time.
Sebring, after all, had flexed its' muscles with 17 and 15 run outbursts earlier in the tournament.
But the bats for both sides would be held in check the rest of the way, with Jayne, one of those returning starters, showing his prowess by setting a World Series record with 16 strikeouts and working his way out of a late threat by the Streaks to secure the 1-0 win.
And so the Ozone title will see a new home this year as the Sebring dynasty couldn't quite continue.
Or could it?
The two-time champs, as it happens, saw their first World Series experience come in the AAA ranks, where they took third, before reeling off the back-to-back Ozone titles.
With a second-place finish in their first foray into the Dixie summer classic, and a multitude of starters likely back again next season, the makings of another dynasty may have just begun.
Sunday, August 05, 2012 - www.newssun.com/SUN-8-5-12-DixieOzone