By BY BRUCE HIXON – sports editor
The East Brewton side breathed a big sigh of relief when their side scored what appeared to be two big insurance runs in the top of the sixth that stretched their lead over Andalusia to 6-2.
It turned out that was not enough cushion to withstand Andalusia's stunning five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth that turned East Brewton's potential victory into a gut-wrenching 7-6 defeat that knocked it out of the Little League Age 9-10 District 5 Tournament played at the Brewton YMCA Park Wednesday.
Both teams missed out on plenty of opportunities throughout the game. East Brewton stranded 10 runners on base, which included the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings. Andalusia left two runners on base in each of the first four innings and nine overall through the first five frames.
For five and a half innings, East Brewton was able to cash in more of its opportunities.
Robin Swift's RBI single in the top of the second gave East Brewton a 1-0 lead. One inning later East Brewton stretched that lead to 4-0 when Quantae Barksdale, Miles Powell and Michael Williams all walked and scored.
Andalusia got on the board against East Brewton hurler Quantae Barksdale in the bottom of the third when Dean McDuffie walked and later scored on a wild pitch.
Andalusia trimmed that lead to 4-2 in the fifth against reliever Miles Powell, who had just taken over after Barksdale hit his pitch count limit at the end of the previous inning. Shun Curry singled and later scored on a wild pitch.
A single by Barksdale, an RBI triple by Powell and an RBI groundout by Williams enabled East Brewton to extend that cushion to 6-2 in the top of the sixth.
Andalusia's sixth inning rally began when Gus Maraman and Lane Sirmon hit back-to-back singles. Brayden Burkhardt's RBI single drove home Maraman and a wild pitch scored Sirmon to make it 6-4. Devan McDuffie got the tying run on base when he walked, which also ended Powell's evening on the mound.
Reliever Lane Chavers got Hunter Earnest to hit a groundball to third base, but an error allowed the ball to scoot into leftfield and scored Burkhardt to make it 6-5.
Chavers struck out Jacob Lee, but a wild pitch during his at-bat scored McDuffie to tie the game at 6-6. It also moved Earnest, who took second base on the error that allowed him to reach safely, to go al the way to third. Another wild pitch while Murphy Mitchell was at bat brought him in with the winning run.
At Brewton
East Brewton 013 002 - 6 6 2
Andalusia 001 015 - 7 8 1
Opp 19, East Brewton 3
East Brewton suffered its first loss of the tournament Tuesday when it lost a 19-3, five-inning decision to Opp in battle of the final two undefeated teams left in the tournament.
Opp continued to pound tournament pitching, as it collected 14 hits on its way to scoring 19 runs. Opp scored 38 runs in its first three games of the tournament against Andalusia, Brewton and East Brewton.
Most of Opp's damage was not inflicted until the last two innings. Opp only had a 3-0 lead and four hits against East Brewton pitcher Tyler Joyner before it doubled that cushion to 6-0 with three runs in the top of the fourth.
East Brewton cut that gap to 6-1 in the bottom of the forth when Michael Williams reached on an error, went to third on two wild pitches and scored on a single by Justin Sessions.
Any hope East Brewton had of extending its comeback further was squashed in a big way in the top of the fifth when Opp sent 18 batters to the plate and scored 13 runs.
Brady Vidich had a single and a double, while Holt Hall had two singles to spark the fifth inning explosion. Zane Hollinghead led Opp for the game with three singles.
Miles Powell had two of East Brewton's three hits.
At Brewton
Opp 120 3(13) 19 14 1
East Brewton 000 12 – 3 3 8