HATTIESBURG — Inclement weather delayed the start of the 2009 Mississippi Dixie Youth South State Tournament for both the 11-year-old division and the AAA (10-year-old) division by two hours.

The Natchez 10-year-old All-Star team got off to a good start despite not having its first-round game start until 8 p.m. as it used an 18-run rally in the top of the fifth inning to annihilate the Laurel Americans 23-3 in five innings.

Natchez had 13 hits and batted around not once but twice in the top of the fifth to break open a close game, with the big blow being a towering three-run home run by Gage Dossett. Natchez was only leading 5-2 at the end of the fourth inning.

“We started out a little sluggish. We hit the ball sporadically,” Natchez 10s head coach Gary Farmer said. “Then it was like they were on fire, and they couldn’t be put out. I hope they continue to do that tomorrow against Pascagoula.”

Natchez, the District 6 champion, will have its hands full when it takes on a fresh Pascagoula team that is the District 7 champion and received a first-round bye. Game time is set for 4 p.m. today.

Gabe Smith picked up the win for the Natchez 10-year-olds despite walking five and striking out just three in four innings of work. He helped his own cause by going 2-for-3 with two doubles.

“We walked a few too many. But overall, we pitched well and played good defense,” Farmer said. “Gabe did a good job keeping them off balanced tonight. We’ve still got all our pitchers ready for the rest of the tournament.”

Natchez scored two runs in the top of the second inning and added three more in the top of the fourth before the Laurel Americans, the District 5 runners-up, scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth.

The Laurel Americans scored its other run in the bottom of the fifth, but they had just two hits in the game to 16 hits for Natchez.

The Natchez 11-year-old All-Star team was supposed to have played Petal at 4 p.m., but that game was pushed back to 6 p.m. Unfortunately, by the time the bats woke up for the Natchez 11-year-old All-Stars, it was too late as the District 6 runners-up lost to the District 8 champion 6-4 in an opening-round game Friday afternoon.

“The conditions were so sloppy and messy, if you hit something and it didn’t go out of the park, it would stop right there,” Natchez 11s coach Jeff Webb said. “I don’t think that had any affect on us. I think our bats were dead. That was the difference. Both teams had the same conditions.”

Natchez didn’t score a single run until Luke Thomas led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a home run and had just four hits for the entire game. Two of those other three hits were in the bottom of the sixth when Cole Melton and Bradley Jones each hit singles. Those hits were followed by a walk of Jeremy Myles to load the bases and give Natchez new life.

Andrew Beesley drew a walk to score Melton to make it a 6-2 game. After a pitching change and a strikeout, Will Moffett was hit by a pitch and Jones scored. A wild pitch brought Myles in and Petal’s lead was just 6-4. But the next batter for Natchez struck out to end the rally and the game.

Webb said had it not been for a couple of costly errors in the top of the sixth that, along with some key hits, allowed Petal score three runs, as well as waiting until the end of the game to hit the ball, Natchez might have come out on top.

“It was just you’ve got to overcome obstacles like this to win, and we didn’t. If we would’ve hit the ball the rest of the game like we did the last inning, we could’ve won the game. Errors cost us the runs in the (top of the) sixth that cost us the game. We’ve got to come out of the gate hitting. They were able to take advantage of mistakes on our part.”

Winning pitcher Chance Holton helped his own cause by hitting a two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning to break a 0-0 tie. At the plate, he was 2-for-3. Nash Clark hit a leadoff home run in the top of the fifth to give Petal a 3-0 lead.

“Holton found a good pitch to hit that was up in the strike zone and hit it a long way,” Webb said.

The Natchez 11-year-old All-Stars will take on Wayne County in an elimination game today at 4 p.m.