Photo courtesy of Samantha Breeding
Fresh from a 5-1 run at the annual Battle of Omaha, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team along with the 17-and-under version of the Everett Black Sox Junior team will be competing in the prestigious Keith Hagan Memorial All American Classic Wood Bat Tournament in Memphis this weekend.
The Hagan, as it’s called, is competed over five fields in Memphis, including the University of Memphis, with divisions for 18-and-under, 17-and-under, 16-and-under and 15-and-under teams.
Both teams begin pool play at 5:30 p.m., on Friday. The Senior Sox, 12-3-2 so far this season, begin against the St. Louis Naturals. The Junior Sox play Arkansas Express, a travel team based in Springdale, at Sowell Field.
On Saturday at 11:30 a.m., the Senior Sox take on Batters Box of Collierville, Tenn. Sunday, they play the Ontario Blue Jays of North Mississauga, Ontario, Canada at 4:30 p.m. The Sox complete pool play on Monday with games against Nashville Baseball Academy of Tennessee at 11:30 a.m., and the Rawlings Recruits of Fenton, Mo. All the 18-and-under games will be at the University of Memphis.
For the Everett Black Sox, pool play continues Saturday against the Mid-South Gamers of Byhalla, Miss., at 2 p.m. at Gagliano Field, and the St. Louis Prospects at 4:30 p.m., back at Sowell Field. On Sunday, the Sox face the Madison County (Miss.) Thunder at 7 p.m., at Gagliano. The Sox complete the Junior pool against Kickapoo Baseball of Springfield, Mo., on Monday at 4:30 p.m., at Gagliano.
Bracket play will be Tuesday in both divisions.
At Omaha, the Senior Sox swept pool play, defeating Rosemount, Neb., 10-1; Gretna, Neb., 2-1; Wayne County, Neb., 7-0; and the Mountain Home Blues, 10-1. In bracket play, they downed the Miles City (Mont.) Outlaws, 8-0, then lost a heartbreaker, 8-7 in extra innings, to Troy, Ala. (Details are unavailable at this time.)
The Alabama team, subsequently, lost to the Scarlets of Billings, Mont., 10-2. The Billings team won the tournament with a 13-1 win over the Jefferson City, Mo., Blazers. Jefferson City, incidentally, reached the semifinals with a win over Columbia, Tenn. Last summer, it was the Columbia, Tenn., team that rallied past Bryant to win the Mid-South Regional Tournament and advance to the American Legion World Series.
