PIGGOTT — The Bryant All-Stars will play for the 12-and-under Little League State championship tonight at 6 p.m., after eliminating the Union County All-Stars in the losers’ bracket finals on Tuesday.
Bryant will face a rematch with Pine Bluff Western, which knocked them into the losers’ bracket with a 4-1 setback on Monday. Bryant will need to win twice tonight to claim the championship. The All-Stars opened the tournament with a 9-3 win over Malvern on Saturday.
Bryant’s team, managed by Greg Riggs with assistance from Scott Allison and Matt Orender, includes Aiden Adams, Kannon Allison, Tyler Bates, Austin Ledbetter, Hunter Littleton, Conner Martin, Cameron McDonald, Justin Orender, Hart Penfield, Ryan Riggs, Blaine Sears, Brandon Thomisee and Joshua Turner.
Bryant 6, Union County 2
Ledbetter went 2 for 3 with two home runs and five runs batted in to lead Bryant to victory. Turner and Sears each had doubles in the game.
Turner and Bates combined to hold Union County to two runs on three hits. In 4 2/3 innings, Turner fanned nine and walked two. Bates struck out three and allowed just one hit over the last 1 1/3.
Bryant took a 2-0 lead in the first when Ledbetter belted his first round-tripper. It came after McDonald reached base on a third-strike wild pitch.
It stayed 2-0 until the top of the third when Sears cracked his double and Adams walked ahead of Ledbetter’s second bomb, making it 5-0.
Turner cracked his double later in the inning but was stranded.
Union County got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the third but could get no more at the moment.
Bryant tacked on in the top of the fifth. McDonald singled with one out, took second on a wild pitch and raced home when Ledbetter fanned on a pitch in the dirt and the Union County catcher threw him out at first.
A two-out uprising in the bottom of the fifth accounted for Union County’s second run. A pair of singles on either side of a walk produced the run before Bates induced a grounder to Ledbetter at short for the final out of the frame.
Bates would work around a lead-off walk in the sixth to close out the victory.
Pine Bluff Western 4, Bryant 1
Pine Bluff scored all its runs in the bottom of the third snapping a scoreless tie. A double, a walk and an error produced the first run then a three-run homer capped off the inning.
Pine Bluff had only three other hits in the game. But Bryant would muster just one. It came with two out in the top of the first when Ledbetter singled up the middle.
After Pine Bluff got on the board, Bryant scratched out a run in the top of the fourth. Adams walked and Ledbetter was struck by a pitch. Both moved up on a groundout by Penfield. Turner followed with a squeeze bunt that got Adams home.
But Bryant only had two more base-runners after that. Littleton walked to lead off the fifth and Ledbetter reached on an error with one out in the sixth.
Bryant 9, Malvern 3
Bryant snapped a scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth then erupted for five in the fifth to take control of the game.
Adams finished with two hits to lead the offense. On the mound, he and Turner blanked Malvern on three hits over the first four frames.
Penfield reached on a third-strike wild pitch to open the fourth for Bryant. He hustled all the way to second on the play, in fact. With one out, Littleton, trying to sacrifice him to third, beat out a bunt for a hit. And when the ball was thrown away, Penfield scored and Littleton advanced to second.
A passed ball moved him up to third then another brought him home to make it 2-0.
After Malvern was retired in order in the bottom of the inning, the big fifth-inning uprising commenced with a walk to Bates. He took second on a passed ball and when McDonald’s single to left was mishandled, it was 3-0.
McDonald wound up on third after that play and Adams singled him home. Ledbetter followed with a single to center then Penfield delivered an RBI double.
After a pitching change, Thomisee picked up an RBI with a groundout.
Littlleton walked then Orender capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to center, getting Penfield home.
Malvern broke through with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a solo homer. A trio of singles and a groundout made it 7-2 but Turner ended the inning with a strikeout, forcing Malvern to strand runners at second and third.
Bryant got those two runs back in the top of the sixth. With two down, Adams walked and, after another pitching switch, Ledbetter drew a free pass. Penfield’s drive to center was misplayed and both Adams and Ledbetter scored to make it 9-2.
Malvern took advantage of an error and a double to plate a final run in the bottom of the sixth but Bates, the fourth Bryant pitcher of the game, closed it out. Malvern again stranded two.
