Wesson's walk-off grand slam defeats Natchez

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, June 28, 2008

NATCHEZ — For the second night in a row, the Natchez 12-year-old All-Stars attempted a high wire act in the sub-district tournament at Duncan Park.

However, this time they fell off.

Bailey Warren hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Wesson All-Stars came from behind to defeat Natchez 7-4.

“It’s a heartbreaker,” Natchez assistant coach Tom Carey said. “It was a great baseball game. To come down to the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the last inning, one team was going to leave with a heavy heart.”

Natchez entered the bottom of the sixth with a 4-3 lead, but a leadoff single and walk put runners on first and second with no outs.

Natchez pitcher Brandon Ross struck out the next batter before a Natchez error loaded the bases with one out.

Ross looked like he might get out of it as he struck the next batter out and got a quick two-strike count on Warren.

Warren took two pitches for balls and then hit a bomb deep over the centerfield fence to end the game.

“The game came down to who made the plays at the end,” Wesson coach Brandon Crow said. “I guess we did enough to win. We may not have been the better team, but we wound up being better on the scoreboard at the end of the game.”

It was a bitter finish for Ross, who pitched a complete-game five hitter, but gave up two homers, including a solo shot to Landon Nettles in the bottom of the fifth.

“Brandon Ross pitched an outstanding game,” Crow said. “He really kept us off balance throughout the game. We just got the big hit when we needed it.”

Natchez got off to a quick start, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning.

After the first run scored on a throwing error by the Wesson catcher, Ross drove home another run with a single. Garrett Rehms then drove home the third run with a double.

After Wesson scored a run in the bottom of the first, Natchez increased its lead with a run in the top of the second.

Chris Guedon singled, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and then scored on a throwing error to put Natchez up 4-1.

However, Wesson would claw back, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth before Warren’s blast to end the game.

Wesson advances to the championship game on Monday night while Natchez must play Lincoln County in an elimination game tonight at 6:30.

Should they win that game, they would need to beat Wesson twice on Monday in order to win the sub-district tournament.