'Betsy National, CCA beaten in 9-10 all-star action

By Wes Holtsclaw
STAR STAFF
wholtsclaw@starhq.com

   Teams from the Elizabethton National and Carter County American Little Leagues battled Tuesday night in Blountville for a chance to move closer to the state tournament.
   However, both 9-10 year-old all-star squads were ousted by a rival duo from Johnson City at Bernie Webb Park.
   The Johnson City National squad topped Elizabethton National 6-1, while Johnson City Major stunned Carter County American 15-5 at the site of this year's 9-10 year old state tournament.
   Johnson City National 6
   Elizabethton National 1
   The Johnson City National squad only needed two hits from Devin Jackson to slide past Elizabethton National in the early contest.
   Johnson City used solid pitching from Davon White, who had nine strikeouts in six innings, to handle Elizabethton defensively.
   White started things off in the first inning for JC with an errored shot into the infield. A walk to Geoffery Smith set up a two-run double from Jackson for a 2-0 JC lead.
   There was a similar occurrence in the third inning, with a White single and Smith walk before Jackson slipped another two-run double past the Elizabethton outfielders.
   The Elizabethton squad finally got on board in the fourth inning after a Jake Howell walk when Casey Sheffield used a sacrificed infield bobbler to close the gap at 4-1.
   Johnson City scrambled back, however, with a walk to Chad Pritchard, who scored on a White double. Smith hammered an RBI single to secure a 6-1 lead for his squad, which held the victory late.
   Johnson City Major 15
   Carter County American 5
   The Carter County American squad couldn't hold onto a lead in the latter contest against Johnson City Major.
   American opened with a single from Alec Whitehead, who scored on a Josh Peterson double. Zack Naylor brought Peterson across with a single to give CCA a 2-0 lead.
   Johnson City struck right back as Gannon Glaspie bunted, and made his way around the bases and across the plate due to some bad throws to close the score.
   Will Carter followed with a single for Major, which got a walk from Zac Thompson. Daniel Norris stepped up for Johnson City with a huge three-run homer to provide Johnson City a 4-2 lead over Carter County.
   American came back with walks to Jake Hubbard, Dustin Turbyfill and Logan Carden. Whitehead battled a single for American, scoring two runs before Logan Carden stole a leading fifth run for the squad.
   Carter County held Major until a long third inning which Carter opened with a triple. A pair of doubles from Thompson and Nick Fair, with RBI singles from Daniel Norris and Heath Loyd helped six runs across the plate for Johnson City.
   Major struck back in the fourth with two triples from Glaspie and Fair, a double from Ty Shipley and a Norris single with five more runs taking an early 15-5 victory over American.
   State tourney notes: The 9-10 year-old state tournament begins on July 19 at the Blountville Little League complex. For more information, contact the Blountville Little League.