MANCHESTER – They’d hoped to spend enough time in Manchester on Saturday to play three baseball games.

As the final day of play began in the Dixie Youth Baseball 7-8-year-old district tournament, the Troup National all-stars knew they needed to win three games to capture the championship, and that was their goal.

Unfortunately for Troup National, it didn’t work out that way.

In Saturday’s first game, Troup National fell to Manchester 11-2 on Saturday morning, and Manchester went on to play Thomaston for the district title.

The good news for Troup National, as well as Hogansville which also participated in the district tournament, is that there is still baseball to be played this summer.

All four of the teams that played in the district tournament will also compete in the state tournament, which will get under way on Saturday in Manchester.

Troup National went 1-2 in the district tournament after falling to Thomaston and Manchester and beating Hogansville.

Hogansville dropped its games to Manchester and Troup National on Friday.

In Saturday’s game, Troup National spotted Manchester an early 2-0 lead before scoring two runs in the top of the second inning to pull even.

After Mason Calhoun and Kaden Carlisle both singled, Avery Bartlett stepped to the plate with two outs and delivered a two-run double, and the game was deadlocked.

Manchester answered with two runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

After Troup National went down in order in the top of the third, Manchester scored four more runs in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-2 lead.

Troup National got a one-out single from Kayden Sutton in the top of the fourth, but it was unable to push another run across, and Manchester scored three runs in its half of the inning to build an 11-2 lead.

Manchester came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth with a chance to win the game via the run rule, but Troup National’s defense was up to the challenge and it didn’t allow any runs, and the game went the full six innings.

Kaleb White had a base hit for Troup in the top of the sixth, but he was left stranded, and Manchester walked away with the 11-2 win.

On Friday, Troup National opened district play with a tough 15-0 loss to Thomaston, but it bounced back for a 19-3 victory over Hogansville to remain alive in the double-elimination tournament.

Troup National’s breakout game against Hogansville was capped by an inside-the-park home run by Rob Skinner.

Hogansville began its tournament with a back-and-forth game against Manchester.

Hogansville got an RBI double from Landon Wilson and an RBI groundout from Carson Wright in the sixth inning to get within three, but Manchester held on for a 14-11 win.

Hogansville then fell to Troup National in an elimination game.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports