Charles Warner|Daily Times The players and coaches of the Union Rotary Cllub's Dixie Youth team were honored by the club Tuesday afternoon for playing a perfect season. The team not only won the Dixie Youth Minors Championship, they also won all 15 games of the 2012 season. The team members are, front row, Christian Humphries, Rhett Cannon, JZ Smith, Connor Goings, Tanner Belue, second row, Holden Cooke, Luke Edens, Javonta Beacham, Duan Crosby, third row, Head Coach Monty Cooke and Assistant Coach Benji Humphries. Not present for Tuesday's recognition ceremony were players Caleb Deal and Kavius Savage and Assistant Coach Jeff Cannon.

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Charles Warner|Daily Times Benji Humphries, assistant coach for the Union Rotary Club Dixie Youth Minors Team, right, presents Rotary Club President Neil Howell with the championship baseball signed by the team's players and coaches. The team won the 2012 Dixie Youth Minors Championship with 15 victories and no losses for the season.

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It’s rare that even the most experienced teams win a championship and play a perfect season of all wins and no losses but that’s just what the Union Rotary Club Dixie Youth Minors Team did this year.

The Dixie Youth Minors Baseball League is for boys ages 8-10. Among the teams playing in the league is the Union Rotary Club Team coached by Head Coach Monte Cook and Assistant Coaches Jeff Cannon and Benji Humphries. In the recently concluded 2012 season, the team played a perfect 15-0 season of 15 wins and no losses to capture the Dixie Youth Minors Championship.

The team’s achievement was honored Tuesday by its sponsor, the Union Rotary Club, in a special recognition ceremony during the club’s weekly meeting at Covenant Baptist Church. Master of Ceremonies was Rotarian Robbie Littlejohn, director of Club Administration, who praised the team for their accomplishment.

“We’re here to celebrate these players and their coaches who have represented Rotary so well,” Littlejohn said. “It’s an exciting day for Rotary to recognize these young players for an outstanding job.”

Littlejohn pointed out that under the banner of first Little League and now Dixie Youth, the Rotary Club has been sponsoring a team for more than 50 years. He said that, as far as can be determined, this is the first time a team sponsored by the club has achieved a perfect season.

“It used to be called Little League, but then it was renamed Dixie Youth,” Littlejohn said. “Between Little League and Dixie Youth, Rotary has sponsored a team for at least the past 52 years. This is the first time that can be remembered by club members that the Rotary team had a perfect season.”

During the recognition ceremony, each player was presented with a championship t-shirt, a certificate, and a coupon for one cone of ice cream at Dairi-O.

The team’s players are Javonta Beacham, Tanner Belue, Rhett Cannon, Holden Cooke, Duan Crosby, Caleb Deal, Luke Edens, Connor Goings, Christian Humphries, Kavius Savage, and JZ Smith.

Along with their coaches, each player signed the championship ball which was presented by Humphries to Club President Neil Howell during the recognition ceremony.

Humphries addressed the club, pointing out that the members of the team had been selected in a draft which he described as “a tough draft,” adding that there had been “some challenging times” during the season. To meet that challenge, Humphries said the coaching staff challenged the players and that they’d responded to that challenge, going on to beat all six of the teams they played during the season. Furthermore, Humphries pointed out that of the games the team played only two or three of them were close.

Cooke pointed out that the good season the team had enjoyed had been due to the combination of the good kids on the team, the good parents that had supported them and the good sponsorship they’d received from Rotary.