NATCHEZ &045; There are times when teams put runners on first and second with no outs and beg for a shot in the gap.

But that’s a scenario for school ball, where metal bats and the ping sound of a batter making contact rule the land. Here in the wooden bat circuit, Miss-Lou Select coach William Barnes knew exactly what to call in that situation.

The bunt.

Jesse Morrison got it down, Jordan Brewer scored from second and the stage was set for a rally in the team’s last at-bat. Patrick McDonough’s fly ball to right fell in and gave the team a walk-off win in the opening night of the wooden-bat Miss-Lou Showcase Friday at Chester Willis Field.

Action continues today and Sunday.

&uot;It’s a whole different ball game,&uot; Select coach William Barnes said of the wooden bat games. &uot;You’re going to have a lot of low-scoring games, and you’ve got to play a lot of small ball by bunting runners over. It’s hard to get the two- and three-run home runs. You’ve got to be patient as a coach and make things happen.&uot;

The game moves a little bit slower as a whole, and outfielders for both teams played a little bit shallower than had they been playing with aluminum bats. And some shots in the outfield turned into adventures, including the shot off McDonough in the Select’s last at-bat that fell in to score Eric Perry and Matt Barnes.

Barnes had walked earlier with the bases loaded to tie the score before Carroll grounded into a fielder’s choice when Corey Dickerson got forced out at home.

&uot;It’s a different ball game playing with wooden bats,&uot; Bombers coach Matt Mason said. &uot;Coach (Stephen) Cooksey and I put a team together to play in this tournament, and we wanted to put this group together, connect as friends and play some ball. Things didn’t go our way that last inning. We made all the routine plays (earlier), but that last inning things didn’t go our way.&uot;

Chalk the game up as a learning experience for the Bombers, made up of players from Trinity Episcopal, Brookhaven Academy and Wesson. Things were going so well for the Bombers up until then and just the opposite for the Select, who left the bases loaded twice in the first three innings and eight in the first four.

Even in the fifth when the Select pulled it off, it took two infield ground balls that the Bombers misplayed to get the rally going. Brewer and Kolby Byrd each reached on errors to start the inning off before Morrison’s bunt single.

&uot;(Morrison’s bunt) loosened everybody up,&uot; William Barnes said. &uot;We just came back. It was a perfect bunt. We were trying to move the runner up to get in position to score a run. We were just trying to move him up, and we had a couple of sticks behind him to drive the runs in. He made a good bunt to drive in a run.&uot;

The rally came off relievers Jonathan White and Parker Brumfield after starter Kolby Godfrey went three innings and didn’t allow a run. The Select put up a run in the fourth with consecutive doubles from Carroll and McDonough, and Bombers coaches pulled White in the fifth after they opted to intentionally walk Eric Perry to load the bases.

&uot;Parker came in and got what we needed,&uot; Mason said. &uot;He got the ground ball and the fly ball. We just had him this summer (at Trinity), and he’s done a good job. He’s doing a really good job in middle relief.&uot;

The Select couldn’t get the key hit against Godfrey in the first three innings to drive in a run as the Bombers took a 3-0 lead after three against starter Collin Dor. Godfrey got Perry to fly out to end the first with the bases loaded and got Dickerson to fly out to right to end the third with the sacks packed.

The Select left runners at first and second in the fourth when Luke Brumfield flied out to short to end the inning.

&uot;We hit the ball a little bit, but we had a couple of chances early and couldn’t come up with the big hit,&uot; William Barnes said. &uot;Finally Patrick McDonough came up with a couple of big hits for us off the bench, and he pitched a solid two innings for us.

&uot;We’re seeing some good, quality pitching this summer. For the most part, we’re playing select teams. There are a few school teams in there, bigger 5A schools who put teams together to play.&uot;

Daniel Watson delivered triples in the first and third innings for the Bombers with both shots getting past the outfielders. His triple in the first scored Keith Franklin, and Watson scored on an error for a 2-0 lead.

Watson tripled in the third and scored on Trey Allred’s single.

&uot;This is the first time these guys have played together,&uot; Mason said. &uot;Hopefully by Sunday they’ll play good baseball together. We’re out here to let these guys have some fun, make some friends and hopefully before the weekend’s over win some ball games.&uot;