Batesville All-Stars
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Batesville All-Star 9-year-old catcher Jaylin Archey tries to get the tag on the Oxford runner but the tag was a split second too late as the runner’s foot touched home for the score. The Panolian photo by Myra Bean
By Brad Greer
Saturday was not a good day for the Batesville nine year- old All-Star baseball team.
After disposing of Water Valley 20-10 and Senatobia 11-0 on Thursday, Batesville squared off against a hard-hitting Grenada team in a winners’ bracket game of the Dizzy Dean North State tournament held over the weekend at J.P. Hudson ball park.
The results were not good for the home team as Grenada scored seven runs in the second inning on their way to a 15-10 victory. The loss dropped Batesville into the losers bracket where they fell to Oxford in an elimination game later in the day. Grenada meanwhile advanced to the championship game Sunday afternoon and will qualify for the Dizzy Dean World Series to be held later this month in Southaven.
Grenada took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first off of Batesville starting pitcher Ethan Woodard. Warner Herring and Gage Little knocked in a pair of runs to key the inning. The Bearcats then put the game out of reach by sending 11 batters to the plate in the second while scoring all seven runs with two outs in the inning to make the score 10-0. Little, Baylee Trusty, and Bryce Barrow all had RBI singles in the frame.
Batesville got on the board in the bottom the the second as Jaylin Archey led off the inning with a double and later scored on an error. After Grenada added another run to make the score 11-1, Batesville answered with a pair of runs as Brayden Locke led off the inning with a walk followed by Kaleb Joyner’s single. Locke would later score on Lewis Gurley’s sacrifice fly. Joyner later crossed the plate two batters later on a error by the Grenada catcher for a 11-3 Bearcat lead.
Grenada expanded the lead to 14-3 in the fourth by plating three runs on one hit and three wild pitches. Batesville rallied with three runs in the fourth and four more in the sixth but it proved to be too late as the Bearcats added an insurance run in the top of the fifth for the final margin of victory.
Anderson Wilder and Joyner each had a pair of singles to lead the Batesville seven-hit attack. Payton Neal and Nathan Herron also contributed with singles.
Woodard went three innings on the mound for Batesville before being relieved by Herron. Little added a triple and two singles for Grenada as the pounded out 14 hits in the game.
