In 2006, manager Randy Hinton along with assistant coach Jamie Haynes
joined travel baseball's storied and legendary Knoxville Stars program looking to carry on the Stars name for their age group, 8U at the time.  And have they ever! Today with the assistance of Wayne Cabbage who jumped on board in 2007 and Bo Murrell in 2008, the 2009 11U Stars (ranked #6 by TBS in 2008) are the organization's highest ranked club earning the most National recognition and accomplishments. 

As an 8U club, the Stars ran through their home state, Tennessee, as the best Kid Pitch team.  The team's strength and drive to seek out the best competition landed them in Atlanta, arguably the Country's biggest hot bed for elite 7U & 8U Kid Pitch competition, several times including a July appearance in the AABC Southeast Regional.  Only a taste of what was to come for this bunch as they have since been the Southeast's most traveled team at their age division.  And they don't travel to burn gas; they travel for W's and hardware.

In 2007 the Stars landed in Orlando to compete in the AAU 9U (Open Bases) National Championship.  After a strong Pool Play showing, losing only to GBC Team Acceleration, the Stars ran through the double elimination bracket going undefeated with notable victories against GBC Team Acceleration and West Pines Nike Cobras, all the way to the championship game before losing back to back games to West Pines Nike Cobras.  The Stars took home the Runner-Up hardware, but the elite of the country took home a taste of Tennessee tradition.

The Stars are one of the grittiest, poised clubs you'll find. They personify a team victory with every win. Their fondness for winning one and two run differential ball games is testament to that.  If anyone had doubts how good this club would be in 2008, they didn't after the Stars won USSSA Super NITs on back to back weekends (Kingsport & Birmingham), going a combined 12-0. Though the Stars declined the berths to the USSSA Elite 24, no one accused them of running from competition. According to manager Randy Hinton the club decided to seek an alternate travel spot to end their season because "we went to Orlando the previous summer." They did however continue tradition and made their annual visits to Atlanta where they won the East Cobb Classic at East Cobb Baseball Complex in early June. "We like traveling to Atlanta because there are more than a handful of strong clubs and it's always been a good measuring stick for us" said Hinton.

The Stars decided Myrtle Beach would be their final destination in 2008. Triple Crown Sports Summer Nationals looked better than ever with a 32 team field from 10 different states. Among the heavyweights was GBC Team Acceleration (ranked #8 by TBS in 2008). The Stars went 2-1 in Pool Play losing to Dallas Tigers by one-run. In Bracket Play they won four in a row en route to the championship where they faced Flower Mound Warriors, who'd made the championship game appearance after knocking off GBC in the quarterfinal.  The Stars played well but not well enough on that day as they'd fallen victim to the "one-run win formula" that worked for them most of the season. Oddly, the loss earned the Stars an honorable accomplishment.  Back to back National Runners-Up!

Finishing as Triple Crown Summer National Champs would've been a huge selling point for them to be TBS's National Champs, but they were 6th in its final rankings; rankings that had them as high as #2 during the season.  In 2009 expect to see more of the same from them and expect them to be within close proximity to the ranking's top spot.  The boys from the Volunteer stare are returning 9 of 11 players from last season's roster, including strong armed pitchers, consistent hitting, and solid defense.

They'll continue their tradition of terrorizing the Southeast playing exclusively in elite tournaments including BITS, and their own annual event, the 10th Annual Knoxville Stars Smokey Mountain Classic. TravelBallSelect would like to wish the 11U Knoxville Stars much success in the 2009 season.

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