Photos courtesy of Crissy McEntire
By Madison McEntire
EAGLE PASS, Texas — The Bryant 13-year-old All Stars lost a rematch with Nederland, Texas, on Monday, July 29, by a 6-2 score and were eliminated from 2014 Babe Ruth Southwest Regional. Bryant had defeated Nederland 9-0 in their first game. After their victory over Bryant, Nederland would score two in the bottom of the seventh for an 11-10 walk-off win over Tri-County, Texas and then complete their journey through the loser bracket by defeating Eagle Pass 1-0 and 8-4 to win the tournament.
Bryant team members are Logan Grant, Cade Dupree, Jacob Coppock, Logan Chambers, Logan Catton, Will McEntire, Jacob Shepard, Hunter Mullings, Ryan Lessenberry, Brock Bariola, Coby Greiner, and Sawyer Holt. The team is managed by Michael Catton with help from coaches Phillip Dupree and Madison McEntire.
Bryant batted first, facing a soft-tossing lefty who pitched against them in relief in the previous meeting. Coppock reached on an error by the second baseman to start the game and Chambers grounded a ball back up the middle to put two on. Grant’s liner to left brought home Coppock to give Bryant a quick 1-0 lead. Dupree’s push bunt to the right side was fielded by the pitcher who retired him at first with Chambers and Grant moving up on the play. Greiner then dropped a sac bunt to the pitcher that scored Chambers with Bryant’s second run. With Grant on third, Mullings flied out to right for the third out.
McEntire took the mound for Bryant and set Nederland down in order with a swinging strikeout, a grounder to shortstop and another strikeout, this one looking.
Holt grounded to the pitcher to start the second and then McEntire went down swinging. Catton walked and then on a hit-and-run Coppock looped a soft pop over the third baseman but Chambers grounded out to second to end the threat.
The first Nederland batter of the second flied out to left but then McEntire threw eight straight high pitches to walk the next two batters. After another fly out to left, a single to right loaded the bases. With a 1-2 count on the batter, McEntire picked the runner off third base but was called for a balk for stepping toward home as he made the pickoff attempt. The call was not made by the third base umpire with the best angle, but by the second base umpire standing behind the mound near second. The call brought in Nederland’s first run but McEntire finished off the batter with a swinging strikeout to end the inning with Bryant still leading 2-1.
Grant led off the third by striking out, but Dupree lined a single to center and on a hit-and-run Greiner rolled a grounder through the left side to put two on. After three foul balls with a 3-2 count, Mullings flied to left and then Holt grounded out to second to leave the runners stranded.
Nederland broke the game open with their other five runs in the bottom of the third. Their leadoff batter bounced a hard shot back up the middle and the next batter hit a grounder that sneaked through between Grant and Chambers and into left field. The three-hole hitter then grounded hard back to the mound. The ball went off McEntire’s foot to Greiner at second who got the out at first as the runners moved up.
With two in scoring position, a grounder to the right side was just out of reach of Greiner and brought in both runners to give Nederland a 3-2 lead. After getting ahead 0-2, McEntire issued a walk to put two on but then got a swinging strikeout on a full-count pitch for the second out. The next batter lifted a high fly near the right field line where Holt made a diving attempt but the ball landed just out of his reach to score one and put runners at second and third. Nederland’s eight-hole hitter then doubled hard into the gap in right-center to make the score 6-2.
Chambers relieved McEntire and ended the inning without throwing a pitch when he picked the runner off second. He was tagged out by Grant as he tried to get to third.
Bariola, who had entered when McEntire left the mound, led off the fourth by watching a third strike and then Catton grounded to third. Coppock smacked a double down the left-field line on an 0-2 pitch but Chambers grounded back to the pitcher for the third out.
Chambers got a grounder to Greiner at third and a fly to Shepard in center to open the bottom of the fourth. Greiner’s error at third put a runner on base but a grounder to Grant at short forced him at second to end the inning.
Grant started the fifth with a groundout to the mound. Dupree bounced a hard single into left and then Greiner reached on an infield hit in the hole to the shortstop. Mullings’ grounder to short forced Greiner, with Dupree moving to third, and then Holt’s grounder to short forced Mullings for the third out.
In the bottom of the fifth, Chambers caught the first batter looking at strike three but then issued a four-pitch walk. A sac bunt moved the runner to second and then a throwing error by Greiner put two runners in scoring position before Chambers got the third out on a flyball to center.
Lessenberry hit for Bariola start the sixth and drove a single into left field. Catton grounded to the shortstop to force him at second but the relay to first was wild and Catton ended up on second.
Coppock grounded a single into right, which moved Catton to third. Chambers bounced a grounder to the shortstop, which forced Coppock. Chambers’ foot clearly hit the first base bag before the second baseman’s low relay throw skipped and was scooped by the first baseman but the umpire called him out, ending the inning and costing Bryant a run. Manager Catton, still angry from the earlier balk call that gave Nederland a run, came out to argue and was ejected from the game.
Nederland went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth on a grounder to third, a pop to short and a groundball to short.
In Bryant’s final at-bat, Grant led off and grounded out to shortstop. Dupree collected his third hit of the game with a single back up the middle. After Dupree went to second on a wild pitch, Greiner grounded to third for the second out with Dupree moving to third. Mullings then popped out to second base as Bryant’s season came to an end.
