VIDALIA, La. &045; Never once did South Franklin’s All-Stars tighten up, get nervous or wonder what would happen if they lost their last game.

The way things had been going the last couple of days, they were just having too much fun as the No. 3 seed sitting in the championship game of the Dixie Youth District 5 South sub-district coach-pitch tournament.

Instead, they kept things going after losing 3-2 in the first game to take an 8-1 win over Ferriday in the second to win the championship and advance to the state tournament starting Thursday in Alexandria.

&uot;Our kids came out here to have a good time and play baseball, and that loss didn’t affect them at all,&uot; South Franklin head coach Rusty Wiggers said. &uot;That loss didn’t upset them. They came back out ready to play and have fun. That’s what baseball is all about.&uot;

You really couldn’t have asked for more from either team, particularly Ferriday after it played three game on Tuesday and five over the course of two days. And the team got better each game it played, although the final game may have taken its toll.

&uot;Fifteen innings for 7- and 8-year-olds, you’re asking a lot,&uot; Ferriday head coach Travis Brown said. &uot;But they stayed in there and played ball. They did what we asked of them. I’m proud of them. South Franklin is a good ball team, and they played a great game. I wish them luck going to Alexandria.&uot;

The game put the wraps on a wild sub-district tournament with the No. 4-seeded Ferriday All-Stars coming a game away from pulling a huge upset. And after the two teams battled to that 3-2 decision in Game 1 in what was one of the better-played games in the tournament, Ferriday drew first punch in the second game with a run in the top half of the first.

That’s when South Franklin answered with four runs and four more in the third to take command. The middle of the lineup got hot, and things started to happen.

&uot;(Game 1) was a great game,&uot; Wiggers said. &uot;Both teams played excellent. We weren’t hitting as well as we did in the second game. We just put the bat on the ball, and we put some runs on the board. With Ferriday, every time we played them they became a better team.&uot;

The top of the lineup sparked it in the first when Lauchlyn Emfinger singled in Michael Moroni for the first run, John Robbins singled in Emfinger and Robby Dearing followed with a two-run homer for the 4-1 lead.

South Franklin rallied in the second but left two on, and in the third Hunter Jones and Robbins each had run-scoring singles for a 6-1 lead. Lucas Moroni followed with an infield singled that wound up scoring both Jones and Robbins for the 8-1 lead.

&uot;They were real tired,&uot; Brown said. &uot;They stayed in it until the third inning, but when they got up on us 8-1, they go any more. You’ve got to look at it &045; 15 innings &045; that’s a lot to ask for.&uot;

But you could tell as the game went on things weren’t going Ferriday’s way. Superstar shortstop Dillon Smith lined one to short in the fourth with his team needing a spark, but South Franklin’s Robbins made an excellent grab for the second out of the inning.

Then in the fourth South Franklin got an infield single from Chris Walker, an outfielder who struck out each of his six times up in bracket play before grounding out in the second.

Walker jumped up and down after reaching first base to lead off the fourth.

&uot;Chris is an excellent ball player, but we went into a slump in this tournament,&uot; Wiggers said. &uot;That hit was worth a million dollars right there.&uot;

Ferriday 3, South Franklin 2

Ferriday took lead first in the second when Tyler Pugh and Ian Black each had run-scoring doubles for the 2-0 lead.

Ferriday tacked on another in the third when Sam Kirby’s single scored C.J. White for the 3-0 lead.

&uot;They were fired up,&uot; Brown said. &uot;When they beat Vidalia (in the first game), they were fired up and ready to come out and play. They thought they were ready to play that third game, but they gave out.&uot;

Ferriday had the key defensive plays in the first game with most of them coming from Dillon Smith. But South Franklin got its two runs in the fourth when Lauchlyn Emfinger &045; the only girl in the six-team tournament &045; laced a shot to right field that turned into a two-run home run.

Ferriday 10, Vidalia 9

Ferriday put together an eight-run third inning to take a 10-4 lead with Trey Book and Ian Black each hitting a home run. Smith also singled in two runs before that to start the rally.

Vidalia bounced back with two in the third and three in the fourth to cut it to one run. In the fifth Vidalia put a runner on second with one out but had a flyout to Trey Book in the infield, who threw to second to double up the runner and end the game.