The Apopka National Little League all-star team had high expectations coming into the 2001 international tournament. The Orlando-area league had won the 1999 Florida state tournament in the 9-10 year old division, and sprinkled six eleven-year-olds on the roster of a team that finished as the 2000 Florida 11-12 year old champions. Apopka was poised to become only the fourth Florida league to win back-to-back state titles in the major baseball division.

Mission accomplished.

Apopka National breezed past three opponents in the 2001 Florida state tournament at the Dr. Phillips Little League Complex in Orlando. After hammering East Boynton Beach in the opening round, Apopka defeated Central Sarasota County twice to claim the state title. By the end of the summer, Apopka had won the U.S. championship and finished as runner-up at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA.

Apopka's offense was prolific throughout tournament play. The defending champions announced their presence in the District 14 tournament by outscoring their first three opponents 63-0. Over the course of district, sectional, and state tournament play, Apopka hit 31 home runs, and outscored opponents by a 148-13 margin.

Apopka's potent offense led the way at the team's state tournament opener. The District 14 champions hammered six home runs in a 10-3 victory over East Boynton Beach to move into the second round.

After the opening round win, the defending champions turned their attention to Central Sarasota. Pitcher Beau French fired a one-hit shutout, and four Apopka batters enjoyed multi-hit days as Apopka National defeated the District 16 champions 6-0 in the winner's bracket finals. French, who homered in the fifth inning, had a pair of hits, a walk, and two RBIs, while Stuart Tapley (two runs scored), Brandon Brewer, and Ryan Markell also had two hits. Josh Tanski added an RBI single in the second inning, when Apopka jumped to an early 2-0 lead.

Central Sarasota earned a title game rematch by defeating Tri-County for the second time in three days. Dane Derstein's fifth inning sacrifice fly scored Joey Terdoslavich and snapped a 4-4 tie, while Jamie Koepsel added a two-out, two-run single to provide the final margin of victory.

In the rain-delayed title game, however, Central Sarasota was again unable to mount an attack against Apopka pitching staff. Following a three hour wait, Tapley struck out 13 and held Sarasota to three hits in Apopka's tournament-clinching 3-1 win. The performance gave Tapley 62 strikeouts over 29 innings since the start of district tournament play, while French added 51 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched.

Tapley played a key role in both of Apopka's rallies in the second win over Central Sarasota. He and Brewer opened the bottom of the first with singles, and a passed ball moved the runners to second and third. A throwing error to the plate on French's grounder scored both runners, and gave Apopka an early lead. Later, Tapley's single up the middle scored Andrew Cobb with the game's final run, as Apopka earned a return trip to St. Petersburg for the region tournament.

Apopka breezed through the Southeast Region tournament with six consecutive wins, despite losing French to a broken leg after a diving board accident midway through the tournament. At the World Series, Apopka was no-hit in its opener -- a perfect game later wiped off the books when a post-series investigation revealed a string of age and residency violations by the Rolando Paulino (Bronx, NY) team. The Florida champions shook off the opening round loss, and won four consecutive games, including an 8-2 win over the same New York team in the U.S. championship game (officially a 6-0 forfeit win after the Bronx team was forced to forfeit all of their tournament games). In the World Series finale, a late rally gave Tokyo Kitasuna LL (Japan) a 2-1 win.