Troup teams to meet in elimination game
Published 1:28 am Saturday, June 30, 2018
By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily News
THOMASTON – It’ll be an all-Troup County showdown with a berth in the state tournament on the line.
Troup National and Troup American will meet at noon today in an elimination game in the Dixie Youth Baseball 9-10-year-old district tournament in Thomaston.
The winner will advance to the championship game on Monday and will qualify for the state tournament in Manchester.
The loser will be eliminated from the district tournament and won’t advance to state.
Both Troup County teams were in action on Friday.
While Troup American beat Taylor County 8-1, Troup National lost to Thomaston 7-4, and both teams are 2-1 in the tournament.
This will be the second meeting between the teams in the district tournament.
Last weekend, Troup National rallied from a 9-1 deficit to beat Troup American 12-11.
On Friday, Troup American stayed alive with the blowout win over Taylor County.
Jake Perry was Troup American’s starting pitcher, and he was terrific with four scoreless innings.
Perry stranded four Taylor County runners in the first two innings.
Shai McCarroll and Demetrius Hardnett finished things off with one inning apiece.
Troup was up 5-1 when it pushed three key insurance runs across in the fifth inning.
The inning’s first run scored when Chase Mosley reached on fielder’s interference on the first baseman.
Two batters later, Jake Perry lined the ball to right field for a two-run single, and Troup led 8-1.
Troup scored its first four runs in the bottom of the first.
After Chase Mosley singled and Shai McCarroll and Jake Perry reached on back-to-back walks, Demetrius Hardnett’s infield base hit drove in the first run.
Jeremiah Staples followed with a bases-loaded walk to bring in another run, Wesley Williams had an RBI single, and Slade Hunt drove in a run with a groundout to push the lead to 4-0.
Troup went up 5-0 with a single run in the bottom of the fourth, with Slade Hunt scoring on an error after reaching on a walk.
Taylor County scored its lone run in the top of the fifth, and Shai McCarroll got a strikeout for the third out with two men on base to limit the damage.
Earlier on Friday, Troup National pushed three runs across in the sixth and final inning to make things interesting, but it was Thomaston hanging on for a 7-4 victory.
Troup was trailing by six runs when the first six batters in the top of the sixth inning walked, and it was a 7-3 game.
Chase Handford’s RBI groundout got Troup National within three, and the tying run was at the plate.
Thomaston pitcher Caden Speck got the final two outs without any additional runs scoring, though, and Troup’s comeback fell short.
For the second straight game, Troup National faced a big early deficit.
Last weekend, Troup National rallied from a 9-1 deficit to beat Troup American 12-11 and improve to 2-0.
In Friday’s game, Troup National found itself trailing 7-0 after the second inning.
Troup got one of those runs back in the fourth inning.
Caden Wood led off with a base hit, and with two outs, Kaleb Woodson came through with an RBI single to get Troup on the board.
It remained a 7-1 game until the sixth inning when Thomaston’s pitchers had trouble finding the strike zone.
Caden Wood, Luke Taylor and Parker Marchman led off with walks to load the bases.
After a pitching change, Kaleb Woodson and Gray Hester walked to drive in two runs.
Following another pitching change, Chase Hansford hit the ball hard on the ground to bring in a run and Troup was within three, but the comeback stalled at that point.
Caden Wood was Troup’s starting pitcher, and Luke Vael entered the game in relief in the bottom of the second.
Vael didn’t allow any runs after the second inning.
Defensively, Troup National made some nice plays throughout the game.
Center fielder Kaleb Woodson made a terrific diving catch for the third out of the fifth inning, and shortstop Brady Willis and second baseman Luke Taylor both made nice plays on groundouts with two men on in the fifth inning.
