Taking home third place out of 44 teams is an impressive accomplishment.

The Vicksburg Thunder did just that while competing in the 10U Division AA USSSA World Series in Dallas, Texas. Each team was thrown into a three-game pool play round before the top 22 teams were separated into an upper flight, which included the Thunder.

“We did so well starting out, we had a first round bye. Unfortunately we had some bad breaks when we got to bracket play and ended up losing back-to-back games. We could just never get over that hump,” Thunder coach Mincer Minor said.

In both losses, the Thunder fell behind and couldn’t rally back. However, the Thunder did manage to pull off a few lopsided victories during the pool play round.

“First game we played, we ended up winning 5-0, second game we won 10-0. We came back our third game and we were actually playing a team that was sitting at No. 2 out of the 44 at one point and we were able to beat them 11-8,” Minor said. “Then we rolled into bracket play and faced a team, hats off to them they were a great team, they ended up making it to the final four.”

The Thunder faced a 5-2 hole before scoring three straight runs to even the score. Minor said the opponent was able to tack on a couple of runs in the last few innings to end up with a 10-6 victory.

Despite the losses, Minor was impressed with his team’s ability to persevere.

“I thought really all of them one through nine had a really good tournament, it’s something to build on,” Minor said. “For us to go out there not really knowing what to expect and getting out there and the kids seeing that they can compete just as good, if not better than, any of the other teams that were out there will serve them well.”

Even being down by six runs in their final bracket game, Minor said the Thunder fought to the last out. Minor said that speaks to the character of each player.

Losing is never easy at any stage of an athlete’s career, and it certainly was a hard, yet necessary lesson for the Thunder to learn.

“They didn’t care about winning three games. All they thought about was the two losses. We tried to tell them that’s part of life,” Minor said. “Sometimes you fall on the short end of the stick. As long as you give it your best effort there’s always a tomorrow and an opportunity to go back and do it again.”

Minor said seeing the faces of 9- and 10-year-old players after a loss is heart wrenching because of how much they want to win. When it’s game time they take on a different demeanor and are fully invested.

“When they don’t get a chance to reach the goal they wanted, it’s heartbreaking as a coach and a parent,” he said.

Right now, the Thunder will try to play in the upcoming Governor’s Cup at Halls Ferry Park in August. If not, Minor said they’d definitely try to play one or two more tournaments this fall. He’s grateful for all the parents on the team who “deserve as much or more credit” than he does.

Minor also thanked Newk’s for allowing the team to hold a fundraiser by refilling customers’ drinks and cleaning tables to get to Texas.

“They represent the city well, they represented the state well,” he said.