Cartersville Little League 12U baseball captures District 1 title

June 24, 2025

Cartersville 12U will represent District 1 in the 2025 Georgia Little League State Tournament. Team members include: Hayes Burris, Messiah Carter, Grayson Dean, Sawyer Ezell, Gavin Hamm, Carter Harris, Emory Harris, Micah Mitcham, Connor Murphy, Harris Pressley, Hayden Stewart, and Sawyer White.

Cartersville Little League 12U won the 2025 Georgia District 1 championship Tuesday night with an 8-2 win over Bartow County Little League 12U on Rudy York Field at Hicks Park.

Cartersville went 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament that began last Saturday and handed Bartow its losses.

In Tuesday’s championship game, Cartersville broke open a one-run game by scoring six times in the top of the fourth inning. Bartow answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but got no closer.

Harris Pressley pitched all six innings for Cartersville in the finals, scattering three hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.

Cartersville received top pitching performances from Messiah Carter and Hayden Stewart in their first two district tournament wins.  

Carter closed out a 5-4 Sunday victory over Bartow by retiring the final seven outs. He did not allow a hit and fanned four. Stewart struck out all four batters he faced last Saturday in a 15-0 blanking of Cedartown. Pressley started the Cedartown game on the bump and struck out five as the two combined for a three-inning no-hitter. 

Grayson Dean and Emory Harris homered for Cartersville in Tuesday’s championship game. The duo drove in six of their team’s eight runs.

Pressley (home run, five RBI), Harris (home run, double, four RBI), and Sawyer Ezell (double, two RBI) led the Cartersville offensive attack during the tournament with four hits each. Dean (home run, double, five RBI) and Hayes Burris (double, RBI) finished the tournament with three hits. Micah Mitcham (double, RBI), Gavin Hamm, Connor Murphy, and Carter (double) contributed two hits. Sawyer White (RBI) had one hit and Stewart added two RBI.

Bartow County 12U finished the tournament with a 2-2 record and was the District 1 runner-up.

Brantley Collum earned a three-inning pitching win over Rockmart in a 17-2 opening round victory. He recorded five strikeouts. Four Bartow pitchers — Aerion Stein, Mason Benitez, Isaiah Flores, and Noah Rutland — combined for five strikeouts Monday in a 15-3 elimination game win over Rockmart.

Bartow’s Kellen Rogers and Greyson Akins pitched one scoreless inning each last Sunday in a 5-4 loss to Cartersville, while Stein yielded only one hit and no runs in 2-⅓ innings of his team’s loss in the finals.

In their four-game tournament run, Stein (three home runs, five RBI), Benitez (home run, four RBI), and Christian Boatfield (three doubles, six RBI) paced the Bartow offense with four hits each. Flores finished with three hits and four RBI. Breylan Combs (two home runs, four RBI), Tallan Bradley (two RBI), Greyson Akins (home run, two RBI), Maddox Cole (double, two RBI), and Rutland (double, three RBI) contributed two hits each. Ryder Myers (RBI) and Collum (RBI) added one hit.

As District 1 champion, Cartersville 12U advances to the 2025 Georgia Little League State Tournament, which begins July 12 at Vine Ingle Little League in Macon.

Bartow County Little League 12U finished as runner-up in Georgia District 1. Team members include: Greyson Akins, Mason Benitez, Christian Boatfield, Tallan Bradley, Maddox Cole, Brantley Collum, Breylan Combs, Isaiah Flores, Jon Ryder Myers, Kellen Rogers, Noah Rutland, and Aerion Stein. Manager: Scott Brady. Coaches: John Myers, Thomas Akins, and Curtis Stein.