Ruston hosts another successful DYB World Series at Sports Complex

The DYB Baseball World Series needed a lifeline. Ruston answered the call and delivered.

For the second time in five years, the city of Ruston put on a successful hosting of the DYB Baseball World Series, with the Division I tournaments wrapping up play Wednesday afternoon to cap off two weeks of youth baseball at the Ruston Sports Complex.

A total of 62 teams from 11 states made their way to Ruston for the Division I and II tournaments, with three brackets per division.

Matt Cotton, director of business development for the Ruston Sports Complex, said the World Series went off successfully thanks to the hard work of staff members and hospitality across north Louisiana.

“As far as the Sports Complex goes, it was a great event,” Cotton said. “Everyone I spoke with had great things to say about it and just thanking everyone for the hospitality experience they had throughout Ruston. Every time I went to Walmart, I saw a bunch of cars painted in the parking lot and people walking around with their World Series gear on.

“Very thankful that when DYB needed a place to host in a pinch, we were their first call, and I think that’s from community leaders leaving such a great impact that a national organization felt so highly to want to come back,” he continued.

After receiving a call from DYB in January once the original host city pulled out, Ruston took on the responsibility of putting on the major youth baseball event in short order and came through with weeks of packed stands, cheerful crowds and satisfied families.

Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker saw the Lincoln Parish community come together, just like they did when DYB was brought the World Series in 2019.

“It was a tremendous success, and I want to thank Matt and his entire team but also the city workers who were involved,” Walker said. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that for an event like that, it takes about a year of planning. They called in January and asked if the city could do it, and we said yes and got it done within a matter of months. It was incredible.”

One of the more incredible moments came right on the heels of the start of games being played at the Sports Complex, with Walker sharing that multiple shade awnings were damaged after major storms came through the region.

With less than a month to go, workers had to repair and fix up the complex and bring the facility back to usable shape.

“We had a storm five weeks ago which tore some of the shade structures on some fields, and so city staff put in a total team effort, and they were out there probably a week or so before the first game,” Walker said. “About five or six panels on those blue shade canopies over the bleachers had to be repaired.”

Walker said it’s more of a “when rather than if” DYB brings the World Series back to Ruston and said the city will always have an ear to the ground for future hosting opportunities.

Bids for the World Series are put out in advance, but Ruston will remain ready.

“Ruston will always answer the call,” Walker said. “I told them, ‘If you need to have it here, we’ll be ready.’ And I know most of the coaches here told me they would want to come back, and so we’ll keep our options open.”

In the future, Walker said the World Series Opening Ceremonies would likely be moved back to an indoor location but had no other firm ideas of what might change the next time the World Series comes to the city.

Division II winners included Luneburg, Virginia (Majors); Sweetwater, Tennessee (O-Zone), and Sweetwater, Tennessee (AAA).

Division I winners included Leland, North Carolina (Majors); Montgomery, Alabama (O-Zone), and Bartow, Florida (AAA).

Ruston’s 10U All Stars finished third in the AAA bracket, while the 12U Majors and O-Zone teams played a handful of competitive games before being eliminated.