NATCHEZ &045; Folks at Carroll-Jones Field could have broken their necks trying to see if Blaze Napier’s shot would hug the foul pole and get out for a grand slam.

But it didn’t. So what did Napier do to finish up?

He launched a granny in the fifth. And this one was never in question.

The granny put the finishing touches on Petal’s 11-1 win over McComb Sunday and may have made a statement for everyone at the Dixie Youth 11-year-old state tournament that it’s not just Magee that’s the team to watch in this thing.

Petal &045; authors of 25 runs in two games &045; will face Natchez at 7 p.m. today.

&uot;We’ve got good kids, but that’s just Petal baseball,&uot; Petal head coach Wes Brewer said. &uot;Petal is pretty well-known for hitting the baseball, and we bring a lot of folks out here for it being a four-hour drive. Pretty much (hitters) 1 through 13 (are hitting), but we could show up tomorrow night and not hit anything. In these two games we’ve hit fairly well top to bottom of the lineup.&uot;

Napier was packed up at the top in the four hole, and he came up with the walk-off grand slam in the fifth to enact the 10-run rule. Napier had his chance earlier in the third but fouled off the pitch that went just to the right of the foul pole in right field, but this time he mashed a shot to right center that was never in question.

It brought home Hunter Linton, Tyler Graves and Trevor Williams after Linton got on by error and two walks.

&uot;I was just trying to hit the ball,&uot; said Napier, who drove in seven runs for the game. &uot;(The foul ball) was about three feet from being fair. We’ve just got a pretty good lineup, and we can all hit.&uot;

It put a damper on McComb’s spirits after it seemed to wake up at the plate a little bit in the top half of the fifth following a slow start. Petal pitchers allowed only two hits in the first inning through four before McComb scratched for three hits and a run in the fifth.

Only J.B. Perkins’ single in the first left the infield through four innings for McComb.

&uot;They played well, and we didn’t &045; it’s very simple,&uot; McComb head coach Wade Brown said. &uot;They played well, and we didn’t. They looked sharp, they made the plays and we didn’t. But we lost the first game in the district tournament and fought back (to finish second). I expect our kids to come out ready tomorrow to play ball.&uot;

McComb struggled early against Petal’s two pitchers, left-hander Napier and right-hander Caleb Dickey, and struck out six times through four. In the fifth Brent Powell scored the team’s first run when he stole third and the ball went into left field.

&uot;I think we’ll come out tomorrow night ready to play ball,&uot; Brown said. &uot;We’ll just have to see what happens. I think (Napier) struck out five in two innings, but we’ve seen a lot harder pitching.

&uot;With him being a left-hander, I can’t say it threw us off because I’m left-handed and I throw batting practice to them. I don’t throw near as hard, but give them credit. Petal played a good ball game.&uot;

The biggest concern on the mound for Petal may have been Napier, who had to come off the mound with two outs in the third despite sailing through two innings of work. By going into his third inning of work, he’s unavailable to pitch tonight against Natchez, but Dickey was flawless in two innings of relief.

Grant Carnahan pitched the fifth when McComb got its run.

&uot;Blaze went into the third inning, but his arm started hurting him,&uot; Brewer said. &uot;It’s about 90-something degrees out there. If we come out tomorrow and get 10-run-ruled because our pitching didn’t hold up, I’d say we’re not very deep (in pitching). I’d say we’re OK.&uot;

&uot;He’s burnt for tomorrow, and we’ve got to play Natchez, which is tough. We’ve already watched them. We’re going to have our hands full with them.&uot;

Napier turned in a two-run single in the third inning with the bases loaded that scored Linton and Graves, and it came on the heels of a bases-loaded walk to Williams to score Ty Hughes. Petal added two more in the fourth for a 7-0 lead when Dickey doubled in Carnahan and Dickey later scored on a double steal when Cody Mims walked and quicly made the turn at first.