VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish 12-year-old All-Stars saw their season come to an end Monday afternoon after they lost to the Haughton All-Stars 10-4 in a losers’ bracket game at the Ozone State Tournament at the Concordia Recreation District 3 Complex.

For the second time in the tournament, Brodie Shankle got the start for Haughton and once again Concordia Parish had trouble hitting his fastball. And this time he got more than enough early run support.

“They scored three runs in the first inning off a home run. They scored a few more runs in the second,” head coach Shaun McDonald said. “Even the host, we were more the visiting team than we were the home team.”

McDonald said that his team came out flat in the first few innings and that allowed Haughton to open up a big early lead. Surprisingly, he also said that the umpiring could have been a whole lot better.

“I usually don’t say this, but it was pretty much the worst officiating in the seven years I’ve been in this,” McDonald said.

After Shankle was pulled, the Concordia Parish 12-year-olds were able to string together a few hits, but it wasn’t nearly enough to mount a serious rally.

Eli Brown was charged with the loss, although he did go 2-for-3 at the plate. Rhet McDonald had a double.

Vidalia 13-14s upsets New Mexico state champs before being eliminated at regionals

SANTA FE, N.M. — The Vidalia 13- and 14-year-old All-Stars pulled off a stunning 13-8 win over the state champion team from Las Vegas, N.M., Monday morning at the Southwest Regional Tournament.

The Vidalia 13-14s belted out 16 hits and got solid pitching from Alyssa Howard and Shelby Mason. The two big innings offensively for Vidalia were the top of the fourth inning and the top of the seventh.

“We bunted them to death. They could not cover the bunt,” head coach Leigh Anne Mason said. “We turned singles into double and triples because they were overthrowing the ball. We ran the bases well, too. We capitalized on their mistakes.”

Vidalia scored five runs in the top of the fourth to take a commanding 8-1 lead. Las Vegas cut the lead to 9-4 before Vidalia put up four runs in the top of the seventh to go ahead 13-4.

Haley Sharp went 4-for-5 with a triple while Savanna Spear was 3-for-4 with a double, Shelby McManus was 3-for-4 and Morgan Estis was 2-for-2. Winning pitcher Howard struck out four and walked just one in five innings and Mason got the save after going two innings with one strikeout and two walks.

“Alyssa came through for us. She started to get a little tired in the fifth. Shelby came in and her changeup went over for strikes,” Mason said.

Both of them helped their own cause at the plate with Howard going 1-for-3 and Shelby Mason going 3-for-5.

Unfortunately, the game lasted nearly three hours and Vidalia less than an hour to get ready for Texas East. It wasn’t much of a game as Texas East bolted out to a big lead and never looked back in a 19-6 win in five innings to eliminate Vidalia from the tournament.

“I thought we would have benefited from having a day off. But we knew going in that we had to play a doubleheader,” Mason said.

Texas East led 6-0 after one inning of play and 11-0 at the end of the second inning. Vidalia finally got on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the third, but Texas East responded with six runs in the bottom of the third.

Mason said that all three pitchers – Howard, Sharp, and Shelby Mason – pitched in that game. Howard was charged with the loss. Makenna Patt went 3-for-3, Sharp was 2-for-3, Shelby Mason was 1-for-3 with three runs batted in, and Howard had a double.