Family and friends welcome home Bryant 13

The Bryant 13-year-old Babe Ruth All Stars are back home Thursday night after winning the World Series beating Greenville, North Carolina 4-3 in Kisap County, Washington.

Friends and family greeted the team at the airport with welcome home signs and balloons. The boys says they're exhausted after playing 19 games this post season undefeated scoring 242 runs and only allowing 49.

Team Manager Jerry East says the boys played well and he's very proud of them. "They're a team. They believe in each other, they pick each other up and they have each other's back."

East says the team worked hard and stayed focused and their dedication paid off.

Randy Kelly and other parents say the team put up a stellar performance against some good competition. "From top to bottom, all 10 teams were worthy of a championship. We just edged everybody out."

Kelly says the kids sacrificed a lot during the season, but it was well worth it in the end.

Before the team left last week, player Logan Allen said excitement about the tournament kept him from being nervous. "When we got there the nerves set in that first game."

Player Alex Shurtleff admits he wasn’t quite as confident they'd be able to pull off the win in the final. "I had a doubt about the 4th inning of the last game, but other than that I pretty much knew we were going to win."

Now the team has to trade in their bats and mitts for notebooks and pencils having already missed almost the entire first week of school. That's not exactly what the team is looking forward to most. Shurtleff says, "I'm not going to school Friday."

The celebrating continues Friday with a parade for the team at 6pm starting at the Lowe's in Bryant. The team will travel by fire truck along Reynolds Road to Bishop Park.