COLUMBIA, S.C. — Youth baseball players on 11 teams from around the Southeast are a little over halfway through the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series.
The big event started Friday and has brought roughly 20,000 visitors to Orangeburg County.
As thousands gathered for the third day, continuing to vie for the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series title, the summer heat continued to swelter, making one concession stand more popular than most.
“Randolph's Artisan Italian Ice has been in Orangeburg for about seven years,” said co-owner Devin Randolph.
The local Italian ice and gelato business provided cool treats to combat the summer heat and was also one of the event’s sponsors.
“We wanted to be a sponsor just because of the seriousness of the event itself. We are big on giving back. Our goal is to make sure we invest locally in our community,” Randolph said.
The event brought out many visiting Orangeburg for the first time, like Tom Cunningham and his son Gage from Tennessee.
“The park is gorgeous. I think we all were remarking how beautiful the facilities are; it’s incredible," he said. We are coming from a very small town with a baseball and softball field. We love our home park, but it’s always fun to see these folks who have really incredible facilities."
Based on their first experience, he said they wouldn’t mind visiting again.
“Orangeburg has rolled out the red carpet for these boys," Cunningham said. "It’s been very clear; we have seen it all over town. All the folks out here helping with the event, there’s nothing that has been overlooked. They have covered every single base."
According to one Tennessee player, their team is going home with some well-earned hardware.
“We won some things like medals, so we got these,” one player said while showing off his World Series medal.
There are still a couple of days left in the series. For more information, visit the event’s website.