Nationals drop two to Brook Americans at sub-district tour
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 30, 2004
BROOKHAVEN &045;&045; Two games against the Brookhaven Americans were just two too much.
The quirky bracket in the Dixie Youth District 6 North Sub-district coach-pitch tournament put the Natchez Nationals facing the Americans twice on Saturday, and the Americans put a stop to it right there with two wins to advance to the championship.
The Americans faced Copiah in the title game, a team the Natchez Nationals beat in the first round.
&uot;It was a weird type of bracket, but that’s the way it worked out,&uot; Nationals coach Billy Ray Farmer said. &uot;We would have been better off to lose our first game. Copiah went straight to the finals.&uot;
Scores of the two games were unavailable, but the Natchez Nationals drew Brookhaven twice since each got to the winners’ bracket final thanks to a bye. It was the same Brookhaven Americans team that beat the Natchez Americans on Friday 18-2.
&uot;When I got there, (former AC coach) Ricky Gray’s son was on the other Brookhaven team, and he told me the Brookhaven team we were going to see was something to watch,&uot; Farmer said. &uot;He was right. I wish we would have done better, but we didn’t.&uot;
The Natchez Americans lost to Copiah, 18-5, on Saturday in the game to go to the championship.
Nationals 9, Copiah 8 (Friday)
High drama was in gear, and Natchez Nationals coach Bruce Ross couldn’t help himself.
&uot;Man, I’m hoarse,&uot; Ross said after the Nationals took a wild 9-8 win in seven innings over Copiah Friday in the first game of the Dixie Youth District 6 North Sub-District tournament.
TheNationals had scored three in the top of the seventh, but Copiah answered with two in its bottom half and had runners on the corners with two outs. But when the next batter grounded out to shortstop to end the game, everyone let out a big sigh of relief.
&uot;It was nerve-wracking,&uot; Ross said. &uot;We were sluggish. It wasn’t our typical. I guess it had a lot to do with those two days of practice last week, but we’ll take a win by one run.&uot;
It was a tough way to lose the first game out for Copiah and perhaps reverse for the Nationals. They lead the entire contest but couldn’t put away Copiah late in the game before it tied it up late with two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to put the score at 6-6.
The Nationals got three runs in the seventh when Caleb Cross, Cameron Farmer and Chris Angles each came across to take the lead.
The Nationals took a 3-1 lead early. In the third inning Hayden Newman tripled with the bases loaded but got thrown out at home when Copiah scooped up the overthrow and threw it home for the out.
Brook Americans 18, Natchez Americans 2
The Brookhaven Americans may be the real deal, and it showed Friday with a solid win over a good Natchez Americans team in the second round of the tournament.
The Natchez Americans advanced after opening with an 8-7 win over the Brookhaven Nationals.
The Brookhaven Americans scored 11 runs in the first inning, six in the second and one in the third.
Natchez Americans got a run in the first when Christopher Guedon doubled and scored on a Josh Brown single. In the third they got another when Nick Lefebvre singled and later scored on a Chandler Adams single.
Natchez Americans 8, Brook Nationals 7
The Americans rallied for two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead before holding the Nationals in the sixth to take the first-round win.
In the fifth Skeeter Myles put one to the outfield fence and scored on a Tyler Wheeler single. Josh Brown then doubled to score Wheeler to give the Americans the lead. The Americans put up good defense in the sixth as Christopher Guedon scooped up a grounder at first to end it.
The Americans trailed 3-2 before scoring a run in the third to tie it up when Caleb Watts doubled in Michael Iles. The score got to 4-4 after three before Brookhaven got three in the fourth to the Americans’ two for the 7-6 lead.
The Ameicans’ runs in the fourth came when Lefebvre doubled in Phillip Tyra and Iles.