Selma’s Dixie Majors baseball team must’ve made an impression on the officials at the World Series earlier this month.

The team received the Jim Thornton Sportsmanship Award last week for its showing at the World Series. Selma head coach Ricky Waters called the team to his house to surprise them with the award on Sunday.

“They were very surprised about it and actually I was too,” Waters said. “That’s a big honor.”

The team thought Waters had invited them over to talk about having a 15-and-under team next season because the group wants to continue to play together. Instead, he surprised them with the second sportsmanship award they’ve received this year.

The first came at the Dixie Majors State Baseball Tournament in Dothan, where the Selma lost to Enterprise in the state championship. Enterprise later pulled out of the World Series, giving Selma the chance to go.

Waters said right from the get-go his team showed its class. On the night of the opening ceremony dinner, the team walked in and immediately took its hats off.

“I didn’t have to say a word to my guys,” Waters said. “Every one of them took their hat off when we walked in the building, and they just had their hat sitting on the table.”

Waters said it means a lot to see that other people noticed how well-mannered Selma’s team was.

“These boys carried themselves well,” Waters said. “We didn’t have any issues. It just wasn’t our best days on the days we got beat, but on the other days we played well.”

Selma went 2-2 in the World Series, but lost to Georgia on Aug. 9 to be eliminated.