Bootheel softballers win Arkansas State Championship

JACKSONVILLE, Ar. - It started as a group of bootheel men wanting to have some fun playing slow-pitch softball. 

Now, the Bootheel Mafia are Arkansas State Champions in the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) Men’s-E division and ranked top 20 in the nation.

The team was formed by Ryne Branum and Darrell Watson in March of 2024. They, along with their roster of Kennett and Missouri bootheel men, quickly found success.

According to Shane McElwrath, there was a lot of interest whenever Branum started looking for players to join the team.

“He reached out to a few of us who played ball in high school,” McElwrath said. “We actually had a lot more than we thought we would. There was about 20 guys on the team”

Despite their success, their entire team can’t make it to every game. Majority of the players are in their 30’s with full-time jobs and families to care for.

He said, this has been a way for the group to get together and have fun with their friends while staying in shape.

“It’s just giving us something to do. Something none of us knew existed,” McElwrath said. “It’s a big world out there and apparently slow-pitch softball is huge. This would have been fun if we started this 10 years ago, but we are still having a blast now.”

According to USSSA, the Mafia has an 11-4 overall record. Their power rankings put the team 17 overall nationally.

En route to their state title, The Mafia won five straight games, only allowing nine runs the entire tournament. 

The team went through the first two rounds without being scored on, beating the 501 Elite 12-0 and the SouthArk Mafia 14-0.

The Bootheel men then went on to beat a team called the Ducks and a team named Super Smash Bros before facing a top 10 national ranked South Rock team in the championship game.

“They have been ranked top 10 in the nation since we started in March,” McElwrath said. “They were one of the best teams in the nation and we ran into them a couple tournaments ago and we beat them. Then they came back and beat us twice so it felt good to be able to beat them for the championship to win in their own state of Arkansas.”

The Mafia beat South Rock 11-4. They showed pride as the only Missouri team in the tournament to go to Arkansas and win the championship.

Logan Dollins, Darrell Watson and Charles Richardson earned All-Tournament honors at the conclusion of the state championships along with Ryne and Danny Branum. Michael Glover was the tournament MVP and Dustin Pritchett earned Defensive MVP.

Now with their victory, the Bootheel men get a chance to play at the World Championship. Those championships will be held in September at League City, Tx.