The West Chester Sluggers traveled to Orlando Florida to play in the USSSA Elite 24 World Series at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  The Elite 24 is widely considered the top World Series in the country with only the best teams from Florida, California, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri competing.   The Sluggers were hoping to hold their own against such great teams.  After a week of great baseball, the Sluggers held their own and more.

After an error filled opening round loss to the New Orleans Monarch's, the Sluggers settled down and defeated the Palmetto Flames to end pool play.   Justin Hilliard dominated on the mound while Rodney Hutchison smashed a 3 run home run in the first inning and the Sluggers never looked back winning 8-2. 

After a first game bye in the double elimination championship round, the Sluggers took on the Inside Sports KC Blues.  Rodney Hutchinson pitched a gem and the Sluggers won 3-1.  The Sluggers got clutch hits from J.J. Johnson, Justin Arnold and Justin Hilliard.

The win over KC set up a third round match-up against Chiefs Baseball from GA.  The Sluggers have met the Chiefs in previous years with the Chiefs always getting the best of the Sluggers.  This game was no different.  The Chiefs hit their way to a 15-7 win, putting the Sluggers backs against the wall with one defeat in a double elimination tournament. 

With the loss to the Chiefs, the Sluggers were matched against the Alabama Naturals from Birmingham.  The Sluggers sticks stayed hot in the 10-2 win.  Big hitters were Dallas Hall, Hayden Senger, Rodney Hutchison, J.J. Johnson and Brandon Williams.  J.J. pitched a great game giving up no earned runs.

The win against the Naturals set up rematch with the Chiefs.  With Justin Hilliard working his magic on the mound the Sluggers took a 2-0 lead into the 4th inning.  The Sluggers added three more runs and never looked back, winning 13-8.  The hitting heroes for the Sluggers were Tyler Duvall, Corey Huber, J.J. Johnson, Rodney Hutchison, Brandon Williams and Hayden Senger.  Some thought the win against the Chiefs was a fluke. but the Sluggers had other ideas.

The Sluggers needed another win against the Chiefs to advance to the final four, and that's just what they did.   With the Sluggers down 8-5 with two outs in the 4th inning with bases loaded and J.J. Johnson at the plate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXTrwkT6rB4

The grand slam put the Sluggers up by 1 and they never looked back eliminating the Chiefs with a 16-9 win.  In addition to JJ's grand slam, great hitting performances were had by Corey Huber, Tyler Duvall, Justin Arnold, Rodney Hutchison, Hayden Senger, Justin Hilliard, Dallas Hall, Justin Anthony and Brandon Williams.

The USSSA Elite 24 semi-final game had the Sluggers facing the always tough Macomb Mudhens in a re-match of the Super NIT championship game.  The Sluggers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Justin Hilliard's two out, two run single.  Andrew Bitter took over from there holding the Mudhens to one through 5 innings.  The Mudhens loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th inning with no outs but could only scratch out 1 run against the stingy Sluggers defense as Justin Arnold closed the door on the 3-2 Sluggers win. 

The Sluggers moved on to meet the Lamorinda Cougers, from California, in the championship game.  The Cougars were sporting a gaudy 6-0 record coming into the championship game and had their ace Joe Demers on the mound.  The Sluggers fell behind 8-0 after two innings against the big hitting Cougars.  The Sluggers mounted several rally's against Demers and Courgars, but were only able to dent the plate four times in the 10-4 lost. 

The Sluggers finished the season with 60-8-1 record, eight tournament championships, three 2nd place finishes, in thirteen tournaments. 

Congratulations to the players on a great season.  Many thanks to the parents, coaches and fans who supported the Sluggers all year long.  We'll see you again in 2009.