GALLATIN, Tenn. (WKRN) – A young baseball team paid tribute to a Vanderbilt pitcher who died this spring.
The Clarksville National Little League played their state championship game Friday night in honor of Donny Everett.
They also wore stars on their sleeves with his number on it.
Everett drowned on June 2 in a Coffee County lake, just days before the NCAA Tournament started.
Head coach Trey Stack says Everett had a special connection to the little league team.
“Donny Everett was an alum of Clarksville National Little League. I coached against Donny and one of my assistants, Troy Miller, coached him in little league. If you knew Donny, you loved Donny. We had to do this and play for his memory, we had too.”
Stack continued, “A lot of these kids looked up to him, a lot of them never knew him, a lot of them got to watch him pitch a few times at Vanderbilt, so I know they all looked up to him. And I know he had an impact even though some of them never met him. That’s how big Donny was, he was larger than life.”
Clarksville lost the game Friday, falling to Goodlettsville 11-0.
This is the first time since 2012 that Goodlettsville has won the state tournament.