JACKSONVILLE — The Bryant 10-year-old All-Star team moved a win away from playing for[more] the State championship with a hard-earned 5-2 win over Crossett on Sunday. Spurred by a four-run third, Bryant held on after Crossett scored twice in the top of the fourth with Josh Turner, on in relief of starter Will Hathcote, closed with two scoreless innings on the mound.
Bryant is set to play Monday at 4 p.m., in the winners bracket final.
The 10-year-old team, coached by Greg Riggs, is Aiden Adams, Kannon Allison, Tyler Bates, Clay Curtis, River Gregory, Will Hathcote, Cameron McDonald, Trey Miller, Justin Orender, Ryan Riggs, Austin Schroeder, Blaine Sears, Brandon Thomisee and Josh Turner.
Hathcote retired the first seven batters of the game before issuing a one-out walk in the third. He followed up with a pair of strikeouts. Two walks to start the fourth, however, set the stage for Crossett’s two runs. A triple drove them in.
Turner relieved and got the first out on a fly to right and when the runner at third tried to tag and score, he was called out. Another fly ended the inning.
But before that, Bryant had established a 5-0 lead. The first run came in the second when, with two down, Hathcote singled to left and Adams drilled one down the left-field line for an RBI triple.
The telling third began with an infield hit by Schroeder who was awarded second when the errant throw wound up in the dugout. But he was out at third on a grounder by McDonald. Orender followed with a shot that got past the Crossett shortstop for a three-base error that made it 2-0. Turner singled to plate Orender and, after stealing second, scored when Riggs reached on a two-out error.
A passed ball allowed Riggs to take third and he scored on Hathcote’s second hit, a single to left. Adams and Curtis each singled to load the bases but Bryant couldn’t get any more in that inning.
But that’s all they’d need as Turner pitched around an error in the top of the fifth and a one-out walk in the sixth to close it out.
