The Atmore Royals put in hard work for a full year, and a year to the day they started working, the Royals won their first tournament.

The Royals coached by Marlon Lee, Tony Williams and Dee Dee Poole are an 11-year-old travel baseball team that began work in July 2009 and saw their work pay off last weekend at the Nations Season Finale.

The Royals finished 3-1 in the tournament defeating the 11-year-old Great Southern Baybears 13-10 in the championship game.

Prior to winning the championship game, the Royals defeated the 12-year-old Great Southern Baybears 8-6.

On Saturday, they opened the tournament with a 10-0 shutout of the Alabama Athletics and a loss to the 11-year-old Great Southern Baybears 4-3.

Winning the tournament was a little sweeter for the Royals as they also had to play up with two 12-year-old teams due to small brackets.

Royals head coach Marlon Lee said winning the tournament meant a lot to he and his team.

“It felt really great to finally win a tournament,” Lee said. “The kids and coaches had worked so hard all season, and to make it that far means a lot. When we won the tournament, it was a year to the day that we had started working on all of this.”

The Atmore Royals roster includes Rashaan Flavors, Tyler Sells, Nytorious Cooler, Gaetyn Thames, Brandon Cummings, Devon Robinson, Ryan Johnson, Eric Williams, Bradley Geck, Xan McGhee and Marlon Lee.