Gloster — If you want to earn back-to-back championships, a good way to accomplish the feat is to beat your opponent by 21 runs.

Monday night the Natchez 9-year-old Dixie Youth All-Stars did just that, defeating Summit 23-2 in Gloster.

“They really hit the ball,” head coach Gary Farmer said. “They hit the ball harder than they even hit it in practice.”

Although they didn’t hit any home runs, Natchez was able to slug three triples, two ground-rule doubles and seven doubles en route to their decisive win.

“I think the other team was shocked by all the hits. They were ringing off the fence, they weren’t just bloop hits,” Farmer said.

Natchez hit the diamond running Monday night, to take an early commanding lead.

“They scored seven runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back,” Farmer said.

Equally as dominating was the Natchez squad’s pitchers.

Natchez used an effective trio of Reed White, Gabe Smith and Jacob Jenkins on the pitchers’ mound.

Despite giving up Summit’s only hit — a triple in the second — White was able to shut the door on Summit early.

“Reed threw strikes and didn’t take but 11 pitches to get out of the first,” Farmer said. “He sat them down in order.”

White pitched the first two innings, with Smith pitching the third and Jenkins pitching the fourth in a run-rule shortened four-inning game.

Although the team had a dominant performance against Summit, the players and coaches realize there’s work left to be done.

“After the game we told the players, ‘That game’s over. The scoreboard’s off. It’s time to prepare for the next game,’” Farmer said.

Next up for the surging 9-year-olds is McComb at 6 p.m. today in Gloster.