Slidell Spirit pitcher Dylan Smith threw a no hitter in his team’s 8-0 victory over St. Bernard during the United State Specialty Sports Association All-Star State Tournament held Saturday and Sunday at SBBA.

Smith, who struck out eight batters in the finals, said he didn’t find out about the no-hitter after the contest. He said his changeup was his best pitch.

“It was moving a lot,” Smith said.

The Slidell Spirit, an 11-year old SBBA team, won the state championship on Sunday with an 8-0 victory over St. Bernard. Pictured from left: Lane Bolner, Hunter Bruno, Grant Nicolosi, Gary Cavallo, Tyler Nicolosi and Dylan Smith; second row: Cole Smith, Ryan Smith, Dustin Dreux Jr., Chase Ory and Bryce Darby; third row: Coaches Nicky Bruno, Dustin Dreux, Kevin McMullen and Kirt Nicolosi.

The Spirit is an 11-year old Slidell Bantam Baseball Association team. The games were either one hour and 40 minutes or six innings. In the title game, the teams played six innings with no time limit. Seven teams participated in 11-year old age group.

Smith said it felt good to win the title.

“We got lots of pictures and stuff,” he said. “We got to pour water on the coach (Kirt Nicolosi).”

Coach Nicolosi said he is extremely proud of his group.

“They gave up two runs on championship Sunday (three games), which is remarkable. It was five great games of baseball. They executed in all phases. This team has won three of the last four state titles.

They also won as eight and 10-year olds.

Slidell, who went 5-0 over the weekend, began the tournament by defeating the ABA Renegades 6-4 in pool play on Saturday.

The Spirit came back to top the Livingston Tigers 9-2 in the second game of pool play Saturday.

Then bracket play took place Sunday. The Spirit opened up with a 13-2 victory over the Vipers.

In the second game, Chase Ory threw a three-inning no-hitter with five strikeouts in a 15-0 shutout over the Livingston Tigers. The game was called after the third inning due to the mercy rule. That set up the title game where Smith came back with a no-no of his own. Slidell played stellar defense throughout the tournament, committing just four errors during the competition.

The Spirit outscored their opponents by a combined 51-8 for the five games.