ARKADELPHIA — The Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team wrapped up play in their season-opening showcase on Sunday with a pair of losses to teams from the St. Louis area, to finish 2-2 in a showcase held mostly at Henderson State University.
Bright and early on Sunday, at 8 a.m., the Sox dropped a 9-0 contest in five innings against Extreme Baseball of Collinsville, Mo. They came back at noon to take on Xtreme Baseball of Rolla, Mo., absorbing a 10-9 loss in a slugfest.
The Sox are set to play at home on Monday at 6 p.m., against Cabot.
Xtreme 10, Junior Sox 9
In a seesaw battle, Xtreme scored in the top of the sixth to take a 10-8 lead then held off a Bryant rally in the home half to hang on for the win. The game ended with the potential tying run at third.
The Missouri team broke out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Bryant countered with a pair of runs in the bottom half. Konnor Clontz singled to center then Logan Chambers got a sacrifice bunt down and reached when the ball was misplayed. Brandon Hoover sacrificed them to second and third before Cade Dupree drew a four-pitch pass to load the bases for Ryan Lessenberry who cracked a two-run single to center.
The Sox missed a chance to get more when the Xtreme pitcher fanned the next two batters.
Lessenberry, who started the game on the mound for the Sox, worked around a hit batsman in the top of the second setting up a go-ahead burst in the home half. Logan Catton reached when his fly to right was misplayed. He hustled all the way to third. Sawyer Holt traded places with Catton by ripping a triple to right. Clift Chaffin’s groundout got Holt home to make it 4-3.
Despite a walk to Chambers and a single by Hoover, the Sox couldn’t add on to their lead in the inning.
In turn, Xtreme loaded the bases on a pair of infield hits and a bunt single but Lessenberry got a strikeout and a pair of grounders that resulted in force outs to keep it 4-3.
Ryan Taylor tripled with one down in the Bryant third but was stranded.
Xtreme came up with a game-breaking outburst in the fourth, which included a hit batsman and two errors to go with four hits. The six-run inning made it 9-4.
The Sox began to whittle on the margin in the home fourth. Holt reached on an error and Chaffin blooped a single to right. Clontz grounded into a force at second as Holt reached third. He would score on Chambers’ grounder to first.
Catton who relieved Lessenberry in the fourth and got out of the inning, set down Xtreme in order in the fifth. That set up another rally for the Sox that Lessenberry started in the bottom of the fifth. His one-out double to center and a sharp single to center by Taylor set the stage. Micah Holyfield delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 9-6. Catton then cracked a double to left to chase in Taylor. And when Holt’s grounder to short was misplayed, Catton scored to make it 9-8.
An unearned run added to the Xtreme margin in the top of the sixth. To start the home half, Chaffin and Clontz drew walks. A passed ball moved them up to second and third for Chambers who picked up his second RBI with a grounder to first.
With Clontz at third, the Xtreme pitcher induced back-to-back pops to short to end the game.
Extreme 9, Junior Sox 0
The Rolla, Mo., team scored two in the first inning, two more in the third and the fourth then three in the fifth to earn the win, coming up with 10 hits.
The Sox were limited to five hits, one each from Clontz, Chambers, Hoover, Taylor and Holt. They threatened in the first and the third.
Clontz singled, advanced to second on a groundout by Chambers, and to third on a single by Hoover. A passed ball got far enough away for Hoover to take second but Clontz had to hold at third. A pair of strikeouts followed as Extreme escaped then grabbed its 2-0 lead in the home half of the inning.
Neither team scored in the second so when the Sox came up in the third, it was still just 2-0. Holt singled and stole second. A passed ball allowed him to take third. With one out, Chambers walked and, with two down, Dupree walked to fill the sacks. But again, the Extreme pitcher got out of the jam with a strikeout. He had nine in the game.
After that, Taylor had a one-out single in the fourth and Chambers singled with one down in the fifth but neither led to anything more.
