By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
There is little argument the Brewton Babe Ruth 14-year-old all-stars are in the driver's seat in their bid to win the district championship.
There is also little argument they are not home free, at least not yet.
Brewton moved to within one victory of the championship Saturday when it blasted South Monroe 14-2 in four and one-half innings.
It marked the second straight game Brewton, which ripped Monroeville 15-2 Friday in the first round, had short-gamed its opponent.
Brewton will go after the tournament championship today at 4 p.m. Its opponent will have to beat Brewton twice. If necessary, a second championship game will be played Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Brewton wasted no time putting South Monroe away, as it had a 12-0 lead before the second inning was even over.
Four of those runs came in the first inning. Brewton only had one hit in the frame, a single by Houston Simmons, and just seven hits for the game despite its impressive run output.
As was often the case, South Monroe was its own worst enemy. South Monroe made three errors in the first inning alone and nine for the game.
Brewton tacked on eight more runs to its lead in the second inning thanks to key singles by Sam Sharpe, Garrett Robinson, John Mathieu and Justin Payne.
Oddly, Brewton only had one extra base hit and that did not occur until the fourth inning when Tyler Nall tripled and scored after an error.
Sharpe went the first three innings for the win before Corey Williams finished up.
At Brewton
South Monroe 002 00 – 2 2 9
Brewton 480 2X – 14 7 1
Friday's game
Brewton needed just four and one-half innings to ambush Monroeville 15-2 in Friday's opening round of district play.
Brewton used its bats to lash out 10 hits and its legs to steal seven bases, as it took advantage of six Monroeville errors.
The complexion of the game changed in the bottom of the second inning. With the score deadlocked at one-all, Brewton loaded the bases with two out on singles by Tyler Nall and Taylor Berry and a walk to Jacob Cannon. Nall and Berry scored the go-ahead runs when Tyler Cross' infield grounder was misplayed for an error. Cannon scored moments later on a wild pitch that extended Brewton's lead to 4-1.
The final backbreaker for Monroeville came in the top of the third inning when it loaded the bases with nobody out. Brewton reliever Corey Williams, who had just entered the game on batter earlier, got Eli Hare to ground into a four-six-three double play.
While one run scored on the play and cut Brewton's lead to 4-2, Williams prevented the big blow and ended the inning altogether one batter later when he fanned Joe Holloway.
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well in relief (of starter John Mathieu)."
Brewton began to pull away in the bottom of the third inning when it came up with four runs and extended its lead to 9-2. While there were no huge offensive blows in the inning, Brewton did get key singles from Williams, Cannon, Grant DeFrancisco and Mathieu.
Brewton was able to get enough to kick the 10-run rule into play when it added six more runs in the fourth to make it 15-2 thanks largely to a three-run double by Williams. It capped off a big game for Williams, who allowed only two hits in two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
At Brewton
Monroeville 011 00 – 2 4 6
Brewton 135 6X – 15 10 1