CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Peachtree 10-and-under baseball All-Stars have gotten to know each other quite a bit over the years. As they’ve progressed from T-ball to the Cal Ripken League, the team’s coaching staff has remained the same, and the roster hasn’t changed since they were the 8U All-Stars.

The team has also won a lot, and after finishing third at last year’s 9U Cal Ripken World Series, Peachtree earned an automatic berth to the 10U World Series in Stafford, with the team’s first game set for Saturday.

“Just watching a group of 10-year-olds get focused on a multi-year goal and then put the work in along the way to actually make it happen has just been a really special thing to be a part of,” head coach Will Reifsteck told Cville Right Now.

The 10U All-Stars are one of two teams from Peachtree headed to a world series this year, with the 11U All-Stars also making it to their respective world series this season.

For the 10U team, last year’s initial run to the world series was in many ways a culmination of what has become multiple successful postseasons.

The team first set its sights on winning districts, which they did as the 7U team, then the state tournament, which they won as the 8U team before falling in regionals. The next year, the team once again qualified for regionals as the state runner-up and won the latter tournament, clinching their spot in the world series.

Peachtree’s hot streak continued in the world series, losing just one game by one run to the eventual champions, Tulare, a California-based team, which Peachtree beat in a scrimmage prior to the world series.

“Every one of [Peachtree’s players] thinks we were the best team there last year,” Reifsteck said.

That confidence from last year, coupled with the team’s continual growth over the years, as Peachtree’s sights set on the title heading into this year’s tournament.

“This year, now it’s ‘Hey, we won regions last year, we placed really well in the World Series and now let’s see if we can continue to take that next step and go try and win this whole thing,'” Assistant Coach Matt Wimmer told Cville Right Now.

Peachtree’s world series run will begin with a rematch against Tulare on Saturday to kick off group play.

With a berth to the world series already secured heading into this year, it’s been an interesting season so far for Peachtree. The team won all four of their district tournament games by mercy rule, then made yet another run in the state tournament, winning all three pool play games by mercy rule but falling in the semifinals 3-0 to New Kent.

But afterward, the team didn’t play in Regionals due to already qualifying for the world series. This allowed families to actually take summer vacations last month, something that has not been possible during previous postseason runs.

“We had a two- or three-week period where I think just about every family went on some type of summer vacation,” Wimmer said. “[That] allowed them to get a little bit of a reset. And this past week-and-a-half, we’ve really started to dial back in.”

Peachtree’s world series run will begin on Saturday with a rematch against Tulare to kick off group play.

While expectations are high for the team, Wimmer said the coaches are doing their part to keep the experience fun for the kids. And regardless of how this season ends, the 10U All-Stars have already accomplished plenty, once again providing another example of the hidden baseball hotbed out in Crozet that is Peachtree.

“All of these kids who are playing for Peachtree live within a five-mile radius of each other,” Reifsteck said. “And we’re going and competing internationally with major metros and Southern California and Florida and all these places who literally are like baseball havens.

“And that’s not possible without the support of our local community, of all the parents of these kids, of the coaches that pour into the league and obviously some really talented kids.”