SWARTZ, La. — The Concordia 13-year-old All-Star team met their expectations by just showing up to play the district tournament, but nobody was expecting them to advance to the state tournament.

But that’s exactly what they did with a 16-6 victory over East Ouachita Tuesday evening.

Concordia clinched at least third place in the district tournament and qualified for the state tournament in Sulpher, La, beginning July 17.

But a couple of weeks ago, it didn’t even look like there would be a 13-year-old team from Concordia Parish.

Eight of the players originally selected to be on the team decided to instead play on the Mudbugs travel team, and Jenkins thought that would be the end of the team.

But the coaches called around and invited players who might have been overlooked the first time around.

The result is a team consisting of players from Natchez, Vidalia, Ferriday and Monterey.

“It’s a real melting pot,” Jenkins said. “We’re kind of like the Bad News Bears, but we’re playing way above our heads.”

The team won its opening game in the round-robin tournament over Rayville 7-1 and lost its second game to Franklin Parish 11-7.

But Tuesday’s victory assured them at least third place in the tournament and a spot at state.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Jenkins said. “I’ve coached many different All-Star teams through the years, but what makes this so special is that we put this together for the kids to experience All-Stars that don’t normally get to go. Now we’re qualified for state.”

Concordia had several hitting stars in Tuesday’s win.

Alan Stockstill had a two-run triple while Jadarius Anderson had an RBI single and double.

Kenneth Jordan had a two-run single while Lester Wells had a three-run double.

“We’re really having fun,” Jenkins said. “There’s no reason to get mad at anybody because we’ve already won. We’ve already reached our goal.”