Braves, Tigers forge ahead
By Rebecca Pierson
Assistant Sports Editor
rpierson@starhq.com
The East Tennessee Electric Braves advanced through
the boys pee-wee tournament losers' bracket Saturday when
they defeated McClain's Exterminating Red Sox in an 8-3 decision.
The first inning was a stalemate, but in the bottom
of the second the Braves put themselves on the board with
a single hit to second from Isiah Vaughn. Eli Hyder struck
out, but Joseph Matherly found his way to first after a grounder
to the mound. Matthew Bales bunted for a single.
Hunter Ward sent a double past third and opened
up the back door for Vaughn and Matherly to run home. Brandon
Lynch rolled a grounder to the shortstop in what should have
been a single, but an error turned it into a triple and Bales
and Ward both earned runs. Austin Millsaps sent his hit to
second, but he was tagged out at first. Lynch earned in a
run before Aaron McHone struck out to end the inning.
The Braves held their five-run lead until the
fourth when they turned it into an eight-run lead. Vaughn,
Matherly and Bales extended the lead further.
The Red Sox didn't get on the board until the
sixth inning. Kurt Lunceford sent a single past the shortstop.
Justin Grindstaff sent his up the first-base line and was
caught out, then Chris Range sent his hit up the mound for
a single. Josh Henegar hit a grounder up between first and
second and loaded the bases.
From there Michael Fowler sent a grounder up third
and brought in Lunceford for the first run, then Adam Dugger
had a hit up the middle for a single an a RBI. Jacob Blankenship
tagged his single to the shortstop for the third run, but
Deyton Henley's grounder up third caught Fowler out.
"They played a good game and they hit the ball,"
Braves head coach Wayne Fisher said. "They hit better than
they have all year. They made some good bunts and did some
really good base running."
"We played a good game," Red Sox head coach Ken
Hardin said. "They made a few mistakes that hurt us a bit
but they hit the ball. They [the Braves] deserve the win.
I am just really proud of my guys. We have had a great year."
Tigers 6
Diamondbacks 1
In the only winner's bracket game of the day,
David's Trophy Tigers upset the Baughman Manufacturing Diamondbacks
in a 6-1 decision. The Diamondbacks will have to win their
game on Monday to put themselves back in to the winners' bracket
final. The Tigers will face the winner of that game on Tuesday
at 6 p.m. to earn the championship title.
"Nobody else has done that this year," Tigers
head coach Jimmy Price said when referring to keeping the
Diamondbacks to only one run. "Our defense is what kept us
in the game. The way they played and the way they hit, it
just all came together."
The Tigers opened up the game with Andrew Whitson's
grounder to the mound, but was caught out at first. Hunter
Pierson laid down a single to first and Chris Johnson sent
a single up the middle. Cory Walker put his single up the
middle as well to load up the bases.
Luke Gilbert rolled his grounder to third to open
the door for Pierson, but Johnson was tagged out at third.
Colton Elliott grounded out to the mound to load the bases
back up, but Landon Grindstaff's single to third caught Gilbert
out at third.
Jesse Honeycutt opened up the bottom of the first
for the Diamondbacks with a single to the shortstop. Daniel
Adams belted his single past first base, then Justin Wandell
grounded out to third for an RBI, but Adams would get tagged
out at second.
Alex Baughman sent his single to the shortstop
but Drew Holtsclaw had his fly caught out at second by Johnson,
and Baughman was caught off base at first.
The Tigers up another one on the board in the
third with a run by Pierson, and tagged on four more in the
top of the sixth to lock in the game.
"We just didn't hit there but we played good defense,"
Diamondbacks head coach Rick Baughman said. "Don't take anything
away from them -- they played pretty good. The only thing
we can do now is hope to work our way out of the losers' bracket.
I think they will make a better showing next game."
