VALDOSTA —
Two of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation youth all-star baseball teams were in action Friday night in respective state tournaments.
The 9-year olds, who have assumed the name the Valdosta Attack, defeated the Eastside Thunder, 4-3. The 11-year old VLPRA All-Stars fell to South Cherokee, 13-9.
Both teams will be in action today, with the 9-year olds competing in Canton and the 11-year olds competing in Rock Springs.
In the 9-year old game, the Attack took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but quickly saw the dissipate and turn into a 3-1 deficit heading into the second inning.
From there, the Attack pitching, which consisted of McGage Pruitt, Colby McGee and Austin Hancock, shutdown the Thunder and help them to no more runs.
Despite the consistent pitching, the Attack still trailed heading into the top of the third inning. That is when the Attack did exactly what their team name indicates— they attacked, managing two runs to even the score at 3-3.
In the fifth inning, the Thunder took the lead and managed to shutdown the Thunder in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.
With the win, the Attack face the Shaw Park Outlaws today at 5:30 p.m.
“We were hoping to win,” said 9-year old head coach Jason Hamsley.
“And if we would have lost we would play at 1:30 Saturday. We were hoping for the win for the kids and to stay out of the heat. It was 104 degrees here today.”
Temperatures for today are forecasted for 100-plus degrees.
The 11-year olds, under the direction of head coach Scott Willis, couldn’t overcome an 8-run bottom fourth inning by South Cherokee and fell 13-9.
“We hit the ball, but we should have scored more runs, but we had two base running mistakes,” said Willis on a telephone call with the Times. “The other team had just three hard hits all night. That is just part of the game.”
With temperatures soaring above the 100 degree mark, the VLPRA 11-year olds grabbed a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, but quickly fell behind 5-2 in the bottom of the inning.
After falling into the 3-run deficit, the VLPRA All-Stars bounced back to grab a 6-5 lead in the top of the fourth inning.
Trailing 6-4 in the fourth, and with two outs already recorded, the 11-year olds had runners at second and third base when a batter grounded to third base. The throw from the South Cherokee third baseman took the first baseman off the bag, but the play was originally called an out and the 11-year olds were only credited with one run.
After a 20-minute conversation about the ruling, the umpire’s original call was overturned and the VLPRA 11-year olds were awarded the sixth run.
Unfortunately, the VLPRA 11-year olds lead didn’t last long, as South Cherokee sprang for eight runs in the inning to grab a 13-6 lead.
The deficit was too much for the VLPRA All-Stars, who managed three runs to make the final score 13-9.
With the loss, the VLRPA 11-year olds are one loss from elimination. The team plays today at noon in Rock Springs.
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