BROOKHAVEN &045; The euphoria of beating the other Natchez team again was incredible, but that still wasn’t enough for the Natchez Americans against a solid Brookhaven Americans team.

The Natchez Americans got to the championship of the North sub-district coach pitch tournament Saturday with a 16-14 win over the Natchez Nationals in an elimination game, but the Brookhaven Americans were waiting and delivered a 23-9 win to claim the tournament.

Brookhaven defeated the Americans 16-3 earlier in the day in the winners’ bracket final. The championship was the Americans’ third game of the day.

&uot;They have a good team &045; a real good team,&uot; Americans head coach Ben Hewitt said of Brookhaven.

&uot;They came out strong throwing and catching the ball. They played all-around good ball.

&uot;Our boys have nothing to be ashamed of. There’s no disappointment there. It’s kind of sad in a way &045; it’s the end of the tournament. I told the parents it’s not over. We’re going to come back next year. It was fun, but it sure wears you out.&uot;

Brookhaven jumped out to an early lead on the Americans and kept the pressure on them. The Americans had their struggles in the field at times, but Brookhaven didn’t budge much in the field against a Natchez team that had scored double figures in runs just about every time out.

&uot;We couldn’t get the ball in their outfield,&uot; Hewitt said. &uot;I’m taking nothing away from them, but we just couldn’t get anything going. Just having a 20-minute break in-between games was tough. My little guys worked hard. The other team played an error-free game. Our kids just could not pull it off.&uot;

Brookhaven advances to the best-of-three district championship against the South champ next week. The winner from there will advance to the state tournament beginning July 1 in Carthage.

Benjamin Hewitt doubled in two runs, and he scored on a R.J. Givens single in the first inning.

Americans 16, Nationals 14

You can just see how even these two teams were &045; the Nationals took the best-of-three city All-Star championship series, but the Americans delivered their two losses at sub-district.

None of those five games, mind you, were easy.

The Americans went up 11-5 at one point before the Nationals made things interesting in the later innings. The game ended after five innings due to time limit.

&uot;I don’t think either team played up to their potential, but you’ve got to remember they’re 7- and 8-year-olds,&uot; Nationals head coach Billy Ray Farmer said. &uot;They’re out there to have fun. I hope they all did. This year all the best players on the All-Star teams will move up to the 9-year-old team (next year). It’s going to be good.&uot;

The Americans had the solid start to take the lead after suffering the 15-3 loss to start the day to Brookhaven. The quick start erased any worries after that first loss and set in motion a solid finish on a long day.

And it brought a little added excitement with both Natchez teams playing for the fifth time in five days.

&uot;I never would have thought my team would have come back like that,&uot; Hewitt said. &uot;I was ready to pack up the bags and go home. When we play, both teams get pumped up for some reason. I never would have thought we would have ended up beat the Nationals. I never would have thought that in a million years.&uot;