Everett Sox clinch State bid, continue unbeaten at Zone tourney
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SHERIDAN — Though they fully expected it all along, the Everett Black Sox of Bryant, nonetheless, made it official on Monday night:
With a 10-3 win over the Little Rock Diamondbacks in the second round of the Zone 4 Junior American Legion Tournament, they’ll be able to defend their 2013 title as they clinched a spot in the 2014 Junior Legion State Tournament, which will be held in North Little Rock starting this Friday, July 11.
The Sox, now 26-6 overall, also advanced to the winners bracket final. They’ll meet host Sheridan tonight at 8 with a berth in the Zone championship round on the line. Sheridan defeated Centerpoint in the other winners bracket semifinal Monday. They are the only two unbeaten teams left in the tournament.
“It’s good to be able to come back (Tuesday) knowing you’re already in State but we know the goal is to win the whole tournament,” stated Sox manager Tyler Brown. “We want to win every single tournament we get in. Right now, we’re 3 for 3. We’re going for 4 for 4 the next two days. We’ll come back out here tomorrow and give it our best shot.”
The Sox won previous tournaments at Hot Springs Lakeside, in Omaha, Neb., and in Memphis.
Bryant scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take control of a tight game. The uprising was interrupted by a collision at homeplate, which literally knocked out Diamondbacks catcher Deshun Hampton. Sheridan EMS was called to the park and Hampton, who apparently suffered a concussion, was taken to Children’s Hospital to be checked out further.
The other news was the return to the pitcher’s mound of Sox right-hander Dylan Hurt who had been sidelined with tendonitis in his shoulder since a June 14 start at the Battle of Omaha. Hurt worked four innings and allowed two runs on four hits, walked two and fanned one. Lefty Beaux Bonvillain relieved in the fifth and finished out the game allowing one run on two hits with three walks and six strikeouts in three innings. He earned a save.
“The pitching, I thought we did well,” Brown said. “Dylan’s first start after his re-hab — he struggled a little bit but he got the job done. Beaux did a great job coming in. Defensively, we just keep getting better and better, and that’s what we want going into State.”
Bryant socked 14 hits, two each by Logan Allen, Garrett Misenheimer, Hurt, Hunter Oglesby, Jordan Gentry and Aaron Orender. But it was Little Rock that scored first, taking advantage of Hurt’s two walks, which came back to back to open the third inning. A sacrifice bunt got them to second and third and, with two down, Lance Nolen beat out a chopper up the middle for an RBI single.
Nolen, the D-backs’ starter on the mound, had held the Sox over the first two innings but, in the bottom of the third, Allen singled and scored on a double to right-center by Misenheimer. Hurt singled then Oglesby picked up an RBI with a base hit into the hole at short.
But Little Rock tied it in the top of the fourth. Grant Broadway singled but when Kelten Cole tried to sacrifice, Hurt fielded the bunt and fired to second to get a force on Broadway. Cole, however, stole second, took third on Tucker Mann’s single and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rashad Townsend.
The game-turning home fourth began with a single up the middle by Orender. Brown put the hit and run on with Coleman at the plate and he found the hole on the right side for a base hit. Orender raced to third and scored a pitch later on Jake East’s sacrifice fly.
A walk to Allen was followed by Connor Tatum’s single up the middle. Diamondbacks’ centerfielder Dylan Chilcote charged and came up throwing as Coleman rounded third and headed for home. The throw was high and Hampton leapt to try to catch it just at Coleman was sliding in. Hampton was upended and came down hard on the back of his neck. He lay motionless for a while.
A call went out for medical professionals that might be in attendance (Connor Tatum’s mother, Sherri, a nurse, was among those who responded) and a call was made to 911.
Hampton was attended to for several minutes, was placed in a neck-brace but then wound up getting on the gurney in part under his own power. In fact, it was reported that Hampton was asking if he could stay in the game.
When play eventually resumed, Misenheimer picked up another of his three RBIs with a groundout to second, making it 5-2. Nolen issued a walk to Hurt then Oblesby singled in a run and Gentry drilled a double to right-center to drive home a pair. Orender’s second hit of the inning fell in, driving home Gentry and knocking Nolen from the game.
Broadway relieved and issued a walk to Coleman before getting the third out.
Bonvillain relieved for Bryant in the top of the fifth and issued a lead-off walk to Tipton Robinson. A wild pitch and a passed ball allowed him to get to third as Bonvillain retired the next two batters. But a single by Johnathan Carruth on an 0-2 count plated the run, making it 8-3.
The lefty would work around a walk and a single in the sixth and, in the seventh, a two-out walk and a hit batsman. He struck out Broadway who was 2 for 2 with a walk at that point, ending the game.
The Sox had tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth. Allen singled, stole second, went to third on Tatum’s bouncer to first and scored on Misenheimer’s single to left.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Brown commented. “You know, a win’s a win. I thought we were really flat, though, throughout the whole game. Even when we were hitting the ball when we were at the dish I don’t think we had a very good plan. But, then again, we worked through it. We got some timely hits, good base-running and, in the end, we got it done.”
BRYANT EVERETT 10, LITTLE ROCK 3
Diamondbacks ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
Chilcote, cf 4 0 0 0 L.Allen, cf 3 3 2 0
Nolen, p-ss 3 0 1 1 Tatum, 2b-ss 4 1 1 1
Carruth, 3b 3 0 1 1 Misenheimer, c 4 1 2 3
Broadway, ss-p 3 0 2 0 A.Kelly, cr 0 0 0 0
Yulle, cr 0 0 0 0 Hurt, p-1b 2 1 2 0
Cole, rf-c 2 1 0 0 Bonvillain, cr 0 0 0 0
Mann, 1b 3 0 2 0 Oglesby, lf 3 1 2 2
Townsend, lf 1 1 0 1 Gentry, 3b-2b 4 1 2 2
Hampton, c 1 0 0 0 Orender, 1b 3 1 2 1
J.Kelly, cr 0 0 0 0 Bonvillain, p 1 0 0 0
Masters, rf 1 0 0 0 Coleman, rf 2 1 1 0
Robinson, dh 0 1 0 0 East, ss 2 0 0 1
J.Allen, 2b 1 0 0 0 Jones, ph-3b 1 0 0 0
Totals 22 3 6 3 Totals 29 10 14 10
Little Rock 001 110 0 — 3
Bryant 002 710 x — 10
E—none. DP—Little Rock 1. LOB—Little Rock 7, Bryant 8. 2B—Gentry. SB—Townsend, Cole, Orender, Coleman, L.Allen, Hurt. S—Cole, Oglesby. Robinson. SF—Townsend, East.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Little Rock
Nolen (L) 3.2 9 9 12 2 0
Broadway 2.1 1 1 2 2 1
Bryant
Hurt (W) 4 2 2 4 2 1
Bonvillain (S) 3 1 0 2 3 6
HBP—Hurt (by Broadway), Carruth (by Bonvillain). WP—Hurt, Bonvillain, Broadway. PB—Misenheimer, Cole.
