Eleven year old Plant City native Dax Drawdy was recently selected to USSSA’s 11U All-American baseball team.
After receiving an invite from the competitive sports organization in January, Drawdy subsequently participated in a regional tryout in Tampa before being selected to participate with the 11U Southeast Red team at a showcase late last month in Viera, Fla. The showcase featured players from across the country, with Drawdy’s Southeast Red team including three players from Mississippi, one from North Carolina and eight from throughout Florida.
“There was Northeast, Northwest, Mid-Central, Midwest and each had different colors, so he played against kids from all over the country,” his mother Layla Drawdy said
Drawdy played in nine games over six days where he finished the showcase 9-19 at the plate with six singles, three doubles, five walks, five runs batted in and three stolen bases while playing mistake-free defense in the field. A utility player that plays all across the infield at first, second and third, Drawdy admits that he has his most fun on the mound as a pitcher.
“I play almost everywhere other than catcher but my strongest positions are first, second, third and pitcher,” Drawdy said. “My favorite position, that’s a tough question, but I think I like pitching more than anything.”
After his performance at the showcase, the Drawdy family received a letter in the mail notifying them that Dax had been one of 36 players from the 11U Southeastern division selected as an All-American.
“It felt amazing to have the opportunity to do such a rare thing and I couldn’t have done it without my family,” Drawdy said.
Starting baseball at four years old with Plant City Little League, Drawdy began playing travel ball at eight and currently plays with the Plant City Bats travel ball organization where he will enter his first 12U season this fall. In addition to practice and year-round baseball, Drawdy takes pitching lessons with Carlos Sierra and hitting lessons with Ryan Rayburn. While he’s just now entering middle school, Drawdy plans to attend Strawberry Crest High School in the future.
USSSA stands for the United States Specialty Sports Association, a volunteer sports governing body and nonprofit organization. Originally standing for the United States Slowpitch Softball Association, the organization rebranded in 1998 and currently governs 13 amateur sports. Slow-pitch softball, baseball, fast-pitch softball and basketball athletes make up approximately 80 percent of USSSA’s membership while the remaining nine sports account for over 350,000 participants. In 2017 the USSSA moved into Space Coast Stadium and the surrounding softball fields that previously served as the spring training complex for the Washington Nationals, officially relocating their headquarters from Kissimmee to Viera, Fla. — renaming the complex the USSSA Space Coast Complex.