Trinity takes district with sweep

Published 1:05 am Sunday, April 13, 2008

NATCHEZ — The Trinity Saints needed only one victory in their doubleheader against ACCS Saturday to take the District 3-AA championship.

However, they did one better, winning both games and sweeping the three game series that began on Tuesday night to improve their overall record to 17-4 and district record to 9-1.

Game one was a pitcher’s duel that ended 1-0 in eight innings while Trinity dominated game two, run-ruling the Rebels in six innings, 14-4.

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“Like I’ve said before, these kids are winners,” Trinity coach Matt Mason said. “We had a goal of winning the district and we went out and got the job done.”

The first game was a pitching and defensive clinic as Trinity’s pitching duo of Brian Sanderson and Matt Barnes kept ACCS scoreless for eight innings, allowing only three hits.

Rebel starting pitcher Luke Brumfield pitched a gem of his own, keeping Trinity scoreless for the first seven innings.

However, in the bottom of the eighth, Parker Brumfield hit a single that scored Clint Easom, ending the game and giving the Saints the district title.

“We expected ACCS to give us their best game and our kids were up to the challenge,” Mason said. “Both defenses played well and both pitchers pitched out of some jams.”

ACCS coach Hunter McKievier was left to rue what might have been following the Rebels’ second extra inning loss to Trinity this week.

They fell 13-8 in 10 innings on Tuesday night.

“We have been struggling with getting timely hits all season,” McKievier said. “That was one of the best pitching and defense games I’ve ever seen. Luke threw a heck of a game. It was a fun game to watch.”

The second game was not near as compelling, as the emotionally drained Rebels were no match for Trinity.

The Saints jumped on ACCS early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by Brumfield, Matthew Freeman and Barnes.

Trinity scored two more runs in both the second and third innings to open up an 8-1 lead, but ACCS came back with three runs in the top of the fourth to close the lead to four runs.

However, that momentum would be short-lived, as Trinity scored one run in the bottom of the fourth on a Jordan Dossett RBI single and five more runs in the bottom of the sixth, including an RBI triple from Wells Middleton, RBI single from Freeman and sacrifice flies from Dossett and Easom which ended the game one inning early.

“That first game wore us down,” McKievier said. “The first game was the second extra-inning game we had played against them this week and we were emotionally drained.”

ACCS (10-10, 5-5) needs to beat Riverfield and have Trinity beat Prairie View Tuesday in order to clinch second place in the district.

The top two finishers get automatic places in the South State playoffs, while the next three finishers must play a round-robin playoff to decide who gets the third and final South State playoff spot.