By Brad Greer

Two local baseball teams, the 12-year old and the eight-year-old squads, took home first place in their respected age groups  in the Dizzy Dean Summer Bash held  over the weekend at J. P Hudson Park.

Both teams went undefeated in the tournament as the 8-year-olds breezed through the competition by a total score of 49-8 in four games while their older counterparts outscored their opponents 39-18 in three games.

In the 8-year-old bracket, the Batesville All-Stars team pounded Southaven 18-1 in the championship game Saturday afternoon after easing past Senatobia 9-1 earlier in the day to reach the title game.

Batesville took a 1-0 lead into the third inning before exploding for five runs in the fourth inning to take control of the game. Dre Moore’s two-run home run fueled the rally as the home team added three more runs. Trevor Bailey led the way with two singles while Drake Burton added a double.

Caleb West, Caleb White, Tanner Jaudon and Travis Duffie added singles. Forrest Pierce also chipped in with a single. Batesville opened up pool play Friday night with victories over Senatobia 9-1 and Hernando 13-5.

12-year-olds

Under a blazing hot sky, the Batesville 12-year-old All-Stars powered their way to a 15-7 victory over Clarksdale in the championship game Saturday afternoon. Cole Rotenberry and Zach Hopper drove in three runs each as Batesville used a seven-run second inning to jump out to a big lead.

Robert Hentz added a double and a single while Eli Wilson chipped in with a pair of singles in the win. Noah Willis and Turner Rotenberry each registered a pair of singles.

Tripp Still tossed three innings on the mound to record the win as Jeremy McGee and Turner Rotenberry came on in relief.

Batesville downed Clarksdale 7-6 Friday night and Water Valley 14-5 Saturday morning to reach the title game. Eli Wilson and McGee banged out two singles each in the romp over Water Valley while James Kyle Browning added a double.

Willis, Cole Rotenberry, Still and Ryan McCurdy all chipped in with singles. James Montgomery and Jack Evans scored a pair of runs in the win. Browning picked up the win on the hill for Batesville while McGee threw one inning of relief.

The Batesville 12 year-old team will now advance to the North State tournament July 7-10 at Horn Lake while the 8-year-old squad will travel to Winona the same weekend to take part in their North State tournament.