By By SCOTT COOPER – Sports Writer
This past Tuesday marked the opening day of the Brewton-East Brewton Little League City Tournament at Sportsman's Park in Brewton.
In first-round elimination games in the 9-10 year-old division, the East Brewton Yankees defeated the Brewton Cardinals while the Brewton Athletics gained a win over the East Brewton Cubs. That set the stage for Thursday's semifinal-round games featuring matchups between the Brewton Athletics and East Brewton Athletics in the first game and the Brewton Braves and East Brewton Yankees in the second game.
Both the East Brewton Athletics and Brewton Braves received a first-round bye on the basis of their regular season records.
East Brewton Athletics 8 Brewton Athletics 2
Thursday's first semifinal game was a battle of A's, as the East Brewton Athletics and Brewton Athletics squared-off to decide which team would advance to Friday's championship finale.
Although the first half of the contest was a low-scoring defensive battle, the East Brewton Athletics got untracked in the fourth and fifth innings on their way to a decisive 8-2 win.
Each team produced a run in the first inning, but then the score remained deadlocked at 1-1 as the East Brewton Athletics came to bat in the bottom half of the fourth. At that point, East Brewton moved three runners across the plate while assuming a 4-1 advantage.
After the Brewton Athletics scored a run in the top of the fifth to tighten things up at 4-2, the East Brewton A's took command in the bottom half of the inning. Three base hits accounted for four more runs and placed East Brewton in control with an 8-2 lead.
In the top of the sixth, the East Brewton Athletics' defense put the clamps on the Brewton offense while securing the victory.
East Brewton's Reid Johnson earned the win as he went the distance while allowing only four hits and striking-out nine.
Leaders at the plate for the East Brewton A's were Joseph Strength, 1-for-3 and Dillon Anthony, 1-for-3.
Batting leaders for the Brewton A's were Trent Robinson, 2-for-2; Shawn Odom, 1-for-2 and Devlin Crosby, 1-for-3.
East Brewton Yankees 17 Brewton Braves 12
The second semifinal matchup between the East Brewton Yankees and Brewton Braves was a wild, high-scoring affair that ended after three innings due to time restraints.
In the top of the first inning, the Yankees wasted little time grabbing a big lead. Taking advantage of numerous walks and errors, the Yankees moved home 10 runs and held a substantial 10-2 advantage after the Braves scored two runs in their half of the inning.
Not content to sit on the lead, the Yankees continued the offensive assault in the top of the second. Seven more runners crossed the plate to escalate the Yankees' leading margin to 17-2.
The Braves, however, mounted a comeback that threatened the lead. Scoring five runs in the bottom of the second and five more in the third, the Braves cut the deficit down to 17-12. But, that was as close as the Braves would get, as the game was called due to the 1.5-hour time limit and the victory awarded to the Yankees.
Tyler Sawyer, Keith Bradley and Haydon Cooper shared duties on the mound in a winning effort for the Yankees.
Yankee offensive leaders were Gary McGraw, 2-for-2 and Justin Hammac, 2-for-2.
Bradley Brown went 2-for-2 with two inside-the-park home runs to lead the Braves' offense.