Youth tourney gets started
Published 12:39 am Saturday, June 16, 2018
By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily News
MANCHESTER – The first game was a struggle, but a Troup County all-star team rebounded nicely to stay alive in the Dixie Youth Baseball 7-8-year-old tournament that began on Friday and goes through Monday.
There are two Troup County teams participating in the eight-team tournament.
One of those teams lost to Lamar County 15-2 in its tournament opener on Friday, but it came back and thumped Schley County 13-6 in its second game to avoid elimination.
Trailing Lamar County 15-0, Troup County found some momentum in the fourth inning, with Braylon Smith and Jax Campbell coming through with back-to-back RBI hits.
Lamar County got out of the inning without any more runs scoring, and the game ended because of the run rule.
After a short break, Troup County started quickly and handled Schley County to advance.
“It wasn’t our best performance (against Lamar), but I wasn’t worried about them,” Troup County coach Charlie Metcalf said. “I was a little bit of a learning curve for some of them.”
Metcalf said “they’ve been a fantastic group of kids.”
“They’ve got good attitudes. They want to play ball,” Metcalf added. “They’re so young. They’re second and third-graders, and they’re learning the game still. We’re able to work with them, and they’re a real coachable group of kids.”
Troup County will play again at 11:30 a.m. today in Manchester.
The other Troup County team had no trouble in its first tournament game, overwhelming Schley County 17-1 to take the first step toward what it hopes will be a winning summer.
It’s a group composed of players who, in addition to playing in the Troup County Parks and Recreation league, are also part of a travel-ball team.
“Our goal is to win state,” said the team’s head coach, Nick Burns. “That was our plan from this fall was to try to win the state championship.”
Leading 5-1, Troup County broke it open with 12 runs in the top of the third inning, and the game ended after Schley County didn’t score in the bottom of the third.
Troup County banged out 18 hits in three innings.
Riley Cockrell had three doubles and five RBIs, and Sam Burns had three hits and an RBI.
Cason McGill had two hits and two RBIs, Laken Tippy and Davis Keese each had two hits and an RBI.
Trace Bailey had two hits, and Brody Buc Cofield had a hit and four RBIs.
Bear Napier and Hayden Browning each had a hit and an RBI, Ben Schory had a hit, and Grant Chaffin scored a run.
Troup County will be back on the field for a game at 10 a.m. today in Manchester.
