First National reaches Babe Ruth title game
First National Bank advanced to the championship game, and Central Oil dropped into the losers’ bracket Tuesday night at the 13-14 year-old Babe Ruth tournament.
Sundrop and Central Oil were scheduled to meet Thursday in the losers’ bracket finals, with the winner to square off against First National for the tournament championship.
In Tuesday night’s first game, First National came out of the blocks strong, scoring eight runs in the first inning on its way to a 17-4 rout of Central Oil.
Collecting four hits and benefiting from a pair of Central Oil errors to start the game, FNB held its lead with strong defense and a quality pitching performance from Jordan Powers, who worked all four innings of the run rule-shortened game, allowing just two hits and three walks while fanning six batters.
Powers helped his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 and scoring three runs. Tony Grissom added a pair of runs on a two-hit night, as FNB scored two more runs in the second to build a 10-1 lead, and added seven more in the fourth to put the game well out of Central’s reach.
Alex Self, and John Morris each accounted for one hit and two runs, while Ford Fairchild, Matt Shields and Mikey Jones had a hit apiece.
Cody Brown and Andy Southard had Central Oil’s two hits.
In Tuesday’s nightcap, Sundrop posted eight runs in the top of the fifth to rally for a 13-7 win over Union Planters.
While the game wasn’t exactly a slugfest, patience at the plate paid off for both teams. Sundrop got two hits from Coty Grissom and one each from Ben Dunn, Jake Dudley and Hunter Urtubees, but took advantage of 14 walks to manufacture their offense.
Grissom picked up the win on the mound, striking out four batters.
Union Planters got a pair of hits and two runs from Justin Armes, while Brandon Boyd had a two-hit night as well. Bryan Bouldin, Tyler Young and Andrew King had a hit each. Armes fanned four batters in the losing cause.