By By Scott Cooper- Sports reporter
After capturing both the District 7 and Area 2 tournaments, Brewton's 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars continued to roll with a decisive opening-game win in the state tournament played in Huntsville.
A slim one-run loss in the second round, however, meant the 15-year-olds needed to avoid another loss in order to remain alive in the double-elimination state competition.
East Huntsville 11,
Brewton 1
Both the Brewton and East Huntsville 15-year-old All-Stars entered their July 12 matchup with a loss and faced a must-win situation to prevent being eliminated from the tournament.
Although Brewton produced seven base hits in the contest to East Huntsville's eight, nine costly Brewton errors were the deciding factor that allowed East Huntsville to pull away to a comfortable 11-1 victory.
The two teams settled into a defensive-oriented contest for the first three innings before a fourth-inning East Huntsville offensive explosion effectively put the game away.
Neither offense seriously threatened in the first inning, sending the game to the second inning with Brewton and East Huntsville locked in a scoreless tie.
Following a top of the second inning in which the Brewton batters were sat down in order, East Huntsville came through in the bottom of the second with a run on one hit and two errors for a 1-0 lead.
Brewton quickly answered in the top half of the third. Antonio Gomez drew a walk before moving to second base on Mikel Riggs' fielder's choice.
A single off the bat of Jordan Cauley loaded the bases, setting the stage for Justin Smith's RBI base hit down the third base line that placed the game in a 1-1 deadlock.
The game remained tied until East Huntsville came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning. Five hits coupled with five errors and three walks then accounted for an eight-run offensive assault that spelled doom for Brewton by placing the local All-Stars at a 9-1 disadvantage.
After a scoreless fifth inning, the East Huntsville pitching staff allowed no runs in Brewton's top-of-the-sixth turn at the plate.
Needing two more bottom-of-the-sixth runs to end the game early due to the 10-run rule, East Huntsville did just that as two baserunners moved across home plate for an 11-1 East Huntsville win that put an end to Brewton's season.
Offensive leaders for Brewton were Justin Smith, 2-for-3 with one RBI; Wade McCall, 1-for-2; Spencer Williamson, 1-for-3; Mikel Riggs, 1-for-3; Justin Marshall, 1-for-3 and Jordan Cauley, 1-for-3.