VALDOSTA —
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority All-star baseball teams had mixed results Saturday in the Dizzy Dean World Series.
The 8-year-old Blazers beat the Alpharetta Eagles 8-4 in Game 1 of Championship Bracket play. In the afternoon game, the Blazers fell to the East Cherokee Bulls 13-7. The Bulls were the Georgia State Champions this season.
The 10-year-old Sluggers opened up their Dizzy Dean World Series pool play with a 13-9 loss to East Walker County (Ala.).
Both teams remain in contention for the championships, but both will have to play out of the losers bracket.
The Blazers will play Alpharetta today at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time in an elimination game. If they are victorious against the Eagles they must beat the Bulls in back-to-back games in order to advance further in the tournament.
The Sluggers will play Columbus (Miss.) today at 11 a.m. and will play again at 3 p.m. if they win their first game. A loss would send the Sluggers to the consolation bracket starting on Monday.
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The Sluggers were hampered by a sloppy first two innings, in which they allowed 10 runs, largely because of errors in the field. After the first two innings, Sluggers coach Tim Samples said it seemed as though his team calmed down and started to play quality baseball.
“Horrible first two innings,” Samples said. “And then we decided to play ball. Like we do, we fought back late in the game.
“I’m not trying to make excuses, but I know what my guys are capable of doing. I think nerves got them. I think the environment itself set our guys back a little bit. It’s not an excuse, but with 10-year-old guys it happens a bit.”
The Sluggers trailed 13-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but fought back to score five runs, making the score 13-9. They then loaded the bases but were unable to bring across anymore runs.
Despite the loss, Samples and his team have an optimistic outlook on the rest of the tournament. Samples said his team likes playing from the losers bracket. After all, they advanced to the championship game of the state tournament after dropping the first game of that tournament.
“The attitude my guys take, they don’t like the easy road and they want to play the most games they can,” Samples said. “We get an extra game by going through the losers bracket.”
Brodie Whiddon was 2 for 2 at the plate with two doubles and Kaid Register pitched two innings of scoreless ball on the hill.
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In the Blazers’ victory over Alpharetta, Cash Phillips was 3 for 3, Lamonte Lindon had two hits and two runs batted in. Daniel Kerrigan had three hits and two RBIs, Mason Steele had two hits and two RBIs, while Wyatt Crosby had two hits and an RBI.
According to head coach Dan Kerrigan, the Blazers played solid defense in the victory.
“Strong defense in the game one victory,” Kerrigan said, “and we need that to continue into (today) if we are going to be successful”
In the loss to the Bulls, Kerrigan said the Blazers just ran into a “very good team that competed well.”
Joel Michael Pressley had two hits with an RBI, while Kerrigan had another three hits, two RBI performance. Mason Steele and Matt Pearson each had two hits and an RBI. Lamonte Lindon finished the game with a hit and an RBI.
Kyler Oathout recorded multiple hits in both games.
Local Sports
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