Hartselle 14-year-olds open district with 6-5 win
By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle's 14-year-old All-Stars started their district tournament with an exciting victory Monday evening, coming back from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Lawrence County National 6-5 in eight innings at Sparkman Park.
Tres Austin scored the game-winning run, coming in to score from third base after Lawrence County pitcher David Mims balked. After Austin led off the inning by being hit by a pitch, Ethan Boggs hit a groundball that was bobbled by the Lawrence County defense. Austin then stole third, making it runners on the corners with nobody out.
With Daryn Raley at the plate, Mims lifted his right leg to make a pitch just as Boggs broke toward second base. Mims then set his leg back down on the mound without making either a pitch toward home or a pick-off attempt, and the home plate umpire wasted no time in calling balk to give Hartselle the winning run.
Raley, who pitched all eight innings for Hartselle, picked up the win. He struck out 15 batters and allowed just one earned run and six hits.
The Hartselle team dug itself a big hole, allowing three runs in the third and one run in the fifth and sixth innings to trail 5-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Chase Hall led off that inning by being hit by a pitch, then moved to third base on a stolen base and wild pitch. Blake Hoffman then walked to put runners on the corners, and Hartselle scored its first run of the game when a balk was called on Lawrence County pitcher Joe Hyde, allowing Hall to come home. Hoffman moved to second on the balk and scored on an RBI single by Daniel Wilhite.
Raley struck out the side in the top of the seventh inning, setting up Hartselle's dramatic finish. Austin led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a single by Ethan Boggs. Both runners moved up on a double steal and each came home to score on a long double to left field by Raley, making the score 5-4.
Hall grounded out to second base, allowing Raley to move to third base. After Hoffman struck out, Wilhite battled with Mims, fouling off pitch after pitch before finally connecting on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Wilhite hit a hard grounder up the middle that was fielded cleanly, but his hustle allowed him to just beat out the throw to first base, allowing Raley to come home and score the tying run.
Raley and Wilhite each finished the game with two RBIs and Austin scored two runs. Boggs, Raley, Hall and Hoffman scored one run each. Wilhite finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate and Raley was 2-for-4 including a double.
With the victory, Hartselle improved to 1-0 while Lawrence County fell to 0-2. The winner of the round-robin tournament advances to the state tournament in Boaz starting July 21.
(Editor's note: The score of Hartselle's game against Cherokee was unavailable at press time. Check next week's Enquirer for full coverage of the District 1 West 14-year-old tournament.)
Remaining games in the tournament:
Hartselle vs. Cherokee, Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Hartselle vs. Central, Thursday at 6 p.m.
Hartselle vs. Morgan County, Friday at 8 p.m.
Possible playoff, Saturday at 1 p.m.
