Emmanuel outlasts Southside in church league tournament

By Ivan Sanders
STAR STAFF
isanders@starhq.com

The 2003 Elizabethton Park and Rec church league tournament was in full swing at Cat Island Field on Thursday evening with a full slate of action. Following is a roundup of the evenings action:
Emmanuel Baptist 18
Southside Christian 14
Emmanuel Baptist found its brethren from Southside Christian proving to be a hard opponent to put away as both teams combined for 32 runs and 43 hits in a game that truly wasn't decided until the final Southside out.
After closing to within 8-6 in the top of the fourth, Southside was breathing down the backs of Emmanuel before Dickie Lyons smashed a three-run homer that gave Emmanuel an 11-6 edge.
Rallying again in the top of the fifth, Southside answered with three runs to close the gap once again.
Adam Walton's two-run double that deflected off a light pole only inches away from a homer and a two-run single from Mark Cateel pushed Emmanuel's lead back to 15--9 heading into the sixth inning.
Southside, just like Samson, reached down deep once again to reel in Emmanuel. John Polly sent a Doug Hinshaw offering deep out of the park for a three-run homer to spark the effort.
Back-to-back doubles by Andrew McKeehan and Randy Kurshak followed by a Greg Dugger single plated two more runs, making the score 15-14 going into Emmanuel's sixth inning.
Sparked by its younger teammates, Emmanuel managed to gain a little breathing room. A double by Chase Turley revved the Emmanuel squad up and a two-run double from Thomas Guess fueled the cause to give Emmanuel a 18-14 lead.
Southside just couldn't put together another rally as Emmanuel took the hard-fought contest.
Hopwood Christian 25
Calvary Baptist 11
Playing with only nine players wasn't enough to discourage league champ Hopwood from taking the five inning affair against Calvary.
After a scoreless first inning, Hopwood broke loose in the top of the second to plate eight runs. Big two-run doubles from Ryan Chupa and Benny Stevens gave Hopwood the early momentum.
Calvary made some noise in its at-bat in the second as David Hoss scorched a double, followed two batters later by Larry Treadway's two-run double that pulled Calvary in range of Hopwood at 8--3.
Hopwood kept the heat on by banging out nine base hits and scoring 10 runs in the top of inning three. Dave Chupa, Ryan Chupa and Jeff Holt chipped in with two-run singles while Craig Ingram and Skip Hendrix plastered run-scoring doubles.
Hopwood went on to add seven more runs over the next two innings while Calvary found runs hard to come by adding five in the third and three in the fourth before being completely shut out in the fifth and final frame.
Larry Absher and David Hoss added a two-run homer apiece for Calvary, with Greg Goulds collecting a three-run dinger for Hopwood.
First Freewill 12
Grace 2
John Holder, Lance Dugger and Weston Peters all smacked home runs in lighting the path for First Freewill to take a 12-2, five-inning game.
Freewill's Michael Morrell needed only a homer to hit for the cycle in the contest while David Bowers contributed with two singles and a double.
Jack Southerland and Wayne Murray paced Grace with two hits each. Teammate Jason Range took one out of the park in trying to bring his team back. Beck Mountain 19
Sinking Creek Baptist 16
Both teams duked it out in the nightcap, as Beck Mountain capitalized on a late throw to the infield to break a 16-16 tie in the seventh inning to rally for the win.
The game was a slugfest from the get-go as both teams combined for a whopping 42 hits. Kenny Timbs and Josh Pierce paced Beck Mountain with 3-for-5 showings, including a home run by Pierce.
Eddie Alvera pitched in with a solid 3-for-4 outing for the winners that included a sparkling triple.
Tim Holder went 4-for-5 in a losing cause for Sinking Creek and received solid support from Billy Matherly, who registered a 3-for-4 night with two doubles and a single.