By Brad Greer
Led by Caleb Lantern, Dalton Barefoot and KeShaun Lantern’s two singles each, the Batesville Royals picked up their first victory of the season with a 7-4 win over the previously undefeated A’s in a American Legion contest Tuesday.
The Royals erased a 1-0 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the first as KeShaun Lantern and Barefoot led off with consecutive singles. Following a Dre’ Moore walk to load the bases with one out, Josh Johnson delivered a two-run single to produce the games’ first two runs. Two batters later Brett Goss walked to force in another run before Ryan McCormac produced an RBI single to plate Johnson.
The A’s closed the margin to 4-3 in the top of the second as Jay Potts and Forrest Pierce led off with walks then scored on a pair of groundouts from Drew Dunlap and Gavin Towles.
The Royals responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame on four hits as Caleb Lantern and Corrdaruis Pride registered RBI singles while Brandon Phelps doubled and scored. Moore also contributed with a single in the fifth inning.
Bowen Williams paced the A’s at the plate with a double and single while Max Dunlap registered two singles. Potts also doubled while Pierce and Dawson Griffin chipped in with singles.
  Yankees-4 Red Sox-2 (7 innings)
 Caleb West’s single to score Ray Willis in the top of the seventh broke a 1-1 deadlock as the Yankees outlasted the Red Sox in extra innings. Payton Cook added a pair of insurance runs with a two-run double that plated West and Caleb White who had reached on a walk two batters earlier.
The Sox added one run in the bottom half of the frame on Shawn Payne’s steal at home to lead in half at 4-2 but could not get any closer as Yankees reliever Hunter West retired the final batter on a groundout to end the game.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Denver Brown reached on an error then later scored on Luke Weldon’s RBI groundout. The Yankees knotted the score two innings later as Colton Hitchcock reached on a error and scored on a Wyatt Hodges double.
Raven Hudson hit a double and single while Nathan Walls added two singles for the Red Sox. Matt Burchfield and Ian Cole each single while Brown chipped in with a double.
Willis, Drake Barton and Gage Heath all singled for the Yankees.