Concordia 9s eliminated from tourney

Published 12:01 am Sunday, July 6, 2014

MONROE, La. — The Concordia Parish 9-year-old All-Stars were not able to carry the momentum from Friday’s win over Winnsboro into their pair of games Saturday at the Louisiana Dixie Youth District 5 Tournament.

Concordia Parish’s first game of the day was played in the afternoon and it was not pretty as East Ouachita North needed just five innings to take a 12-0 win. The game was called because of the mercy rule.

Jake Spears went three innings and allowed nine runs on seven hits and four walks to go with five strikeouts. Concordia Parish was held to two hits in the game — singles by Tyrin Jordan and Chase McGraw.

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“The East Ouachita team is pretty good. They had a left-handed pitcher, and that was the difference in that game,” coach Arin Rushing said.

The second game was played at night — an 8 p.m. start — and was a lot closer, but Concordia Parish was unable to come up with any timely hits and lost to West Monroe North 5-2 and have its season come to an end.

Spears was charged with the loss despite allowing just one run on three hits and two walks. He also struck out four batters.

The Concordia 9s had six hits in the game, but once again all of them were singles. And there were no multiple hitters, either. Jordan, McGraw, Bryce Roberts, Kameron Carter, Blake Grayson and Michael Williams each had a base hit.

“It was fun, but they weren’t ready to play ball today,” Rushing said. “I feel like the kids just didn’t show up today.”

By going 1-2 in Bracket B, the Concordia Parish 9-year-old All-Star team finished in third place in that bracket.