Coach-pitch teams face off at tourney

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Shortstop Tylan Martin of the Warren County Pioneers 9-year-old team makes a throw to second from his knees after a diving stop during Saturday morning’s game againsdt the Warren County Braves. (Dale Stubblefield photo)

A trio of local squads faced off against some stiff competition Saturday in tournament action at the Civic Center Complex

Two sanctioned Tennessee Youth Baseball Association tournaments were held this weekend, with coach-pitch teams squaring off in a 5- and 6-year-old division as well as a 9-year-old division.

In 9-year-old play, two local teams were in action. Friday night, the Warren County Braves fell short against the Cookeville Flame 15-4, while the Warren County Pioneers were handed a 9-5 loss by the Worth Wizards.

Saturday morning the two local squads went head-to-head, with the Pioneers coming out on top of an 8-1 final score. In later action Saturday, the Flame downed the Wizards 15-7.

The 9-year-old tourney was scheduled to wrap up Saturday evening.

In the 5-6 tournament, which is a warm-up for this month’s TYBA national tourney, action began Saturday morning with the Warren County Pioneers falling to the La Vergne all-stars 22-5.

In other games, Shelbyville Blue downed the Cookeville Twisters 24-7, and the Creve Hall Sharks downed the Pioneers 26-6.

Shelbyville Blue went on to take a 16-6 win over the Murfreesboro Chiefs, and La Vergne wrapped up pool play with a 28-7 win over Shelbyville Gold.

With pool play complete, the seeding order for the double-elimination tournament was: 1. Sharks, 2. La Vergne, 3. Shelbyville Blue, 4. Chiefs, 5. Shelbyville Gold, 6. Warren Co., 7. Cookeville.

The double-elimination portion of the tournament was set to begin Saturday afternoon, with the losers’ bracket finals scheduled for today at 2 p.m. The championship in the 5-6 division is set for today at 3:30.