NATCHEZ — When the Dixie Youth baseball league decided to bring back competitive tee ball, Natchez jumped on the chance to show what its young players are made of.

The Natchez Dixie Youth league showed up to the state tournament in Purvis last weekend with two separate all-star teams making it to the big stage — the Natchez Americans and the Natchez Nationals.

The Nationals, coached by John Sullivan, came out hot in pool play with a 2-1 record before advancing to the single elimination round Sunday.

Sullivan said the Nationals found out quickly there were more than tee ball players competing for the title.

“There were other teams that were coach pitch teams playing in the tournament, but it didn’t matter,” Sullivan said. “The kids played their hearts out.”

The Nationals fell to the Hattiesburg All-stars 18-17 Sunday morning in the bottom of the fifth inning, and were eliminated as the fourth place team.

“It was a great experience, and they’re all looking forward to making all-stars in coach pitch next year and playing some more,” Sullivan said.

The Nationals finished their season 7-4.

The Americans came into the state tournament with more momentum as an undefeated team.

Despite their record, Americans’ coach Ryan Marchbanks said he knew the team had to bring their top performance.

“They were a bit bigger and stronger,” Marchbanks said.

The Americans made it to the single elimination round Sunday as well, but cruised past the Magee All-stars with ease before meeting up with Hattiesburg, the same team the Nationals fell to, just 20 minutes after playing Magee.

The competition was stiff, but Hattiesburg had the upper hand with more rest time. Hattiesburg beat the Americans 20-10 in four innings to take home third place.

“Kyle Rushing, Colton Rabb and Crews Marchbanks led the offense in hitting,” Marchbanks said. “On defense, Tristan Fondren, Rushing and Marchbanks were major contributors. Tripp Wimberly had a home run that led our last charge to beat Hattiesburg, but we came up short.”

But the Americans also took home another trophy, the 2014 Sportsmanship Award.

Marchbanks said he was proud of the parents, coaches and players’ poise throughout the tournament.

“I am very proud of that because (the players) do what they see (the coaches and parents) doing,” Marchbanks said. “We said we were never going to talk bad about any other team. If something was to be discussed with the umpires, then let us (coaches) do that.

“It does mean a lot because it teaches them lessons, and the first lesson I tell them is to never give up and play as hard as you can.”

The Americans finished their season 11-1.