ARLINGTON, Tenn. — A six-run first led to a 9-0 lead in the first three innings for the Easley Baseball Club 16U team of Memphis. Though the Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team tried to rally, Easley tacked on to come away with an 11-4 win in pool play in the 16U Division of The Hagan, the Mid-Summer Showdown at Arlington High School on Saturday.
The Sox fell to 0-2 in pool play headed into a third game on Saturday afternoon against the Arkansas Chaos of Paragould at 4:15 p.m., at Snowden Grove Park in Southaven, Miss. Bryant will wrap up pool play on Sunday against STL Gamers Gray at 1 p.m.
The Sox scored four runs on six hits in the game against Easley. Colby Morrow had two hits and Luke Dreher drove in a pair.
In the bottom of the first, Easley had a runner at first and two out, but the Sox just could not get the third out. Three doubles, two singles and a triple later, it was 6-0. Four singles and a walk in the bottom of the third increased the lead to 9-0.
Bryant broke through in the fifth. Lawson Speer led off with a single and, with one out, J.T. Parker reached on a throwing error. Speer scored when Dreher grounded to short. Parker went to third on a wild pitch but was stranded.
Easley got those two back in the bottom of the fifth, an uprising instigated by a two-out error.
The game went to the seventh with the Sox down by nine. But they didn’t go quietly. Jaxon Ham was hit by a pitch to open the seventh. Speer’s grounder to third was misplayed and, after Speer stole second, Ham scored on a grounder to first by Gavin Burton.
With two down, Dreher singled in Speer to make it 11-4. Morrow followed with a base hit but that’s where the rally stalled. A strikeout ended the game.
