The 2009 14-year-old Bryant Babe Ruth All-Stars are, front from left, Evan Ethridge, Evan Castleberry, Tyler Green, Trent Rivers; second row, Blain Jackson, Tryce Schalchlin, Manager Jimmy Parker, Zach Cambron, Riley Hall, Tyler Nelson; back row, Cameron Price, Justin Vincent, Josh Davis, Coach Tony Ethridge, Caoch B.J. Wood, Daniel Richards, Marcus Wilson and Hayden Daniel.
BENTON — With their seventh win in five days, the weary Bryant Babe Ruth 14-year-old team finished an impressive march through the losers bracket of the 2009 State tournament by capturing the championship with a 3-1 win over White Hall tonight.
Both teams advance to the Southwest Regional tournament to be hosted by Bryant beginning Friday, Aug. 7. Bryant, the host team, will play the East Texas champion at 7:30 on opening night. White Hall will play that morning at 11 against the West Texas champion.
Benton will also play in the tournament, opening against the Louisiana State champion at 1:30 p.m. The State champion from Mississippi, South Texas and North Arkansas will also compete at the tourney.
White Hall had sent Bryant to the losers bracket of the State tournament on Saturday but, in the end, Bryant won the title by beating White Hall twice.
Bryant’s 14-year-olds, coached by Jimmy Parker with assistance from Tony Ethridge and B.J. Wood, include Zach Cambron, Evan Castleberry, Hayden Daniel, Josh Davis, Evan Etheridge, Tyler Green, Riley Hall, Blain Jackson, Tyler Nelson, Cameron Price, Daniel Richards, Trent Rivers, Tryce Schalchlin, Justin Vincent and Marcus Wilson.[more]
The team won the 13-year-old Babe Ruth World Series championship last summer.
Tonight, Daniel went the distance on the mound allowing just three hits and working around five errors. He walked three and struck out two. The only White Hall run was unearned and came in the sixth.
Bryant took a 1-0 lead in the first when Daniel singled to left, took second on Nelson’s sacrifice bunt, third on Wilson’s long fly to right then scored on a wild pitch as Richards drew a walk.
It stayed 1-0 until the fourth when Richards reached on an error, advanced on a grounder to third by Green and scored on a single to center by Price. After Price stole second, he advanced to third on a grounder to the right side by Ethridge. Cambron then singled him home.
Bryant only had three baserunners after that. Nelson singled in the fifth and, in the top of the seventh, Rivers and Schalchlin drew walks.
Daniel’s only easy inning was the first. In the second, he worked around an error and a one-out bunt single.
In the third, a lead-off single was erased when Price threw the runner out at second on a shot to right field. A base hit and a walk followed but Daniel got the final out on a pop that he grabbed himself.
In the fourth, an infield single and an error had runners at second and third with no one out. But, on a safety squeeze, Cambron charged in from first and got an out at the plate. Daniel struck out the next batter and retired the side on a pop up to Ethridge at second.
A two-out error and a walk in the fifth came to naught when a grounder to Richards at third resulted in a force to retire the side.
The lone White Hall run scored in the sixth on a long drive to center that was misplayed. A flyout and a groundout brought the baserunner around but that’s all White Hall could muster.
But they didn’t go quietly in the seventh. An error and a walk had the tying runs on board with no outs. Daniel fielded a bunt and got a force at third. A grounder to second followed that was turned into a doubleplay by Ethridge, ending the game.
