The Southern Stars, an 11 and under travel baseball team, from Effingham County won the Grand Slam 11 and under World Series in Panama City Beach, Fla., on July 12.  

The Southern Stars went 6-0 in the tournament beating the Thibodeaux Thunderbolts (La.) 11-0, the Blazers (Georgia) 5-4 and the East Cobb Lightning 12-2 in pool play.  

In bracket play, they defeated the Springfield (Mo.) Bears 9-3, the Tifton Mavericks 8-3 and the Houston (Texas) Senators (Texas) 5-1 in the championship game.

Winning pitchers were Josh Gilliam, Slade Johnson, Bam Smith and Scheldon Paulk.   

Other tournament wins this year for the Southern Stars include first place in the “Who’s the Best” tournament in Milledgeville, second place in the Firecracker Classic tournament in Statesboro, first place in the USSSA 11U AAA sub-state tournament in Waycross and third place in the USSSA 11U AAA state tournament in Cumming.  

The Southern Stars team is in its fourth year together. They are coached by Bobby Fears, Alan Hendrix, Eddie Horn and Mark Shelton.