WHITE HALL — The Bryant 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars captured their second one-sided win in as many days in District tournament play on Saturday. On the heels of an 18-3 win in five innings against Clark County in their opener on Friday, Bryant’s Stars dismissed Hot Spring County, 10-0, on Saturday.
Bryant was set to play the winner of the White Hall-Sheridan game in the winner's bracket finals on Sunday at 6 p.m. A win would advance the Bryant Stars to the championship round.
The Bryant 15-year-olds, coached by Wayne Taylor, include Seth Alkire, Jared Archer, Dylan Cross, Ozzie Hurt, Tyler Jamison, Luke McConnell, Quinton Motto, Trevor Paige, Josh Pultro, Alex Rowlan, Stoney Stephens, Jordan Taylor and Matthew Welch.Bryant is making a bid to advance to the State tournament in Pine Bluff starting July 17.[more]
Bryant 10, Hot Spring County 0
In Saturday’s victory, Cross and Motto combined on the two-hit shutout. Cross went four innings, walked just one and struck out five. The only hit he allowed was a one-out single to Luke Honeycutt in the fourth. Motto relieved in the fifth and worked around a walk and a single with two down, ending the game with a strikeout.
Bryant took a 1-0 lead in the first when Jamison lined a single up the middle, took second on Hurt’s sacrifice bunt, third on Taylor’s bouncer to first the scored on a base hit by Cross.
In the second, Motto beat out an infield hit and, an out later, Stevens sacrificed him to second. After Archer was hit by a pitch and McConnell came in to run for him, Jamison drove a fly to right that was misjudged and went for a two-run triple.
Bryant doubled the lead to 6-0 in the third. Taylor walked, took second on Cross’ groundout to short, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Alkire’s brouncer to third. Motto kept the inning going with a single to left and, after he stole second, Pultro was hit by a pitch to set the table for Stevens, who lined a double to center to plate Motto. Archer’s bouncer for an infield hit brought Archer home with the third run of the inning.
Hot Spring County made a pitching change to start the fourth but Bryant kept ripping away at the plate. Taylor walked and scored on a triple by Cross. Alkire was hit by a pitch and stole second. Cross delayed, then stole home as Alkire kept on to third.
Motto proceded to walk and, after he stole second, Welch, with one down, tried to squeeze in a run only to have Alkire tagged out.But Welch stole second and when Motto scored on a passed ball, a wild throw from the catcher to the pitcher covering the plate, allowed Welch to come home as well to make it 10-0.
Bryant 18, Clark County 3
A nine-run first inning put Bryant on its way to the easy win. The Stars went on to score in every frame to ease to victory, hammering out 19 hits.
In the first, Jamison looped a single to right ahead of walks to Hurt and Taylor. After a pitching change, Cross picked up an RBI with a groundout and Alkire ripped one off the left-field fence for a two-run double.Motto plugged the gap in left-center for an RBI double then Pultro sliced one to right for the third straight two-bagger to make it 5-0.
After Welch singled, McConnell got a bunt down that not only brought in Pultro but drew a wild throw to first that allowed him to reach safely and Welch to race to third. Jamison bunted as well. The ball was fielded by the Clark County pitcher who threw home only to have Welch get in under the tag as Jamison reached on the fielder’s choice. Hurt got down the third consecutive bunt, sacrificing runners to second and third for Taylor who completed the rampage with a two-run double to left.
Taylor, Bryant’s starter on the mound, worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the first and the onslaught commenced again in the top of the second.
After Alkire was robbed of a hit on a diving catch of a bloop by Clark County’s second sacker, Motto reached on an error, Pultro singled him to third and, after Pultro stole second, Welch reached on a throwing error that allowed both to score, making it 11-0.
Alkire took over for Taylor in the bottom of the second and Clark County managed two runs when a two-on, two-out liner ticked off the tip of Taylor’s glove on a leaping attempt at short and rolled into center field. But Alkire struck out the next batter to keep it 11-2.
Bryant kept adding on in the top of the third. With two down, Taylor singled and scored on a double to dead center by Cross. Alkire ripped one inside the line at third for another RBI double, making it 13-2.
A hit batsman and a two-out single by Mitch Berry pushed another run home for Clark County in the bottom of the inning but, again, the Bryant Stars trumped that in the top of the fourth.
Stevens’ bloop single with one out was followed by a drive to the gap in right-center that Archer legged out for an RBI triple. Jamison followed with a two-run blast to left to make it 16-3.
Jamison took over on the mound in the bottom of the fourth and worked around a single and a walk.
In the fifth, Bryant put the finishing touches on the victory. Pultro drew a two-out walk, stole second then third and, after Stevens walked, scored on a passed ball. Archer singled Stevens to third and Jamison’s base hit brought him home with the final run.
Jamison worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, striking out the last two batters to finish it.
