As the Texas Rangers play in the World Series, Mesquite already has a World Series winner of its own: the Eastfield College Harvesters.
Thursday afternoon, the National Junior College Athletic Association champions were finally awarded their championship rings. The team clinched the Division III title on May 26.
The rings were a sweet symbol of a winning moment for the Harvesters.
Sophomore Nathan Hancock could hardly wait to put his ring on.
"Last night, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited," he said. "It just finally feels like a relief to finally get it."
Right fielder Conner Tobias said the game was still fresh on his mind. The team lost the first game in the series but then won rest of their games.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," he said. "I remember we were two out, and I looked at out our center fielder, and we just gave each other that look, like, 'All right, we're about to win this whole thing right here.'"
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The team's coach, Michael Martin, is now the division's coach of the year.
"It's what we play for," he said. "It's the ultimate goal. These kids, when they come here from day one, we talk about the steps that it takes to get to that level."
Now that the team members have their rings, they're hoping a certain team that inspires them will get theirs, too.
"The Rangers are definitely a role model for our team, just the way their team is built, and the way our team is built are very similar, and we try to model our team chemistry after them," Hancock said.
It's the third time the Eastfield Harvesters have knocked it out of the park with a championship title.
