Hartselle 14's take 2nd at district tournament

By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
The Hartselle 14-Year-Old All-Stars took second place at the District 1 West tournament in Sparkman Park last week, finishing with a 3-1 record and squeaking by Morgan County 8-7 on Saturday to secure second place. Hartselle opened the tournament with a 6-5 win over Lawrence County National, then followed that with a 22-4 win over Cherokee and an 11-0 loss to Central-Florence before knocking off Morgan County.
Central-Florence took the winner's trophy with a 4-0 record. Hartselle finished 3-1, Morgan County was 2-2, Lawrence County National was 1-3 and Cherokee had an 0-4 record at the tournament. Only Central-Florence advanced to the state tournament in Boaz.
Hartselle 8
Morgan County 7
In a battle of teams fighting for the runner-up trophy, Hartselle fell behind 6-2 after three innings before storming back to tie the game at 7-all through six innings. Daryn Raley scored in the top of the seventh and Hartselle held on to take the win and second place in the district tournament.
In the seventh, Raley was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Michael McMurry. Raley stole third and came home to score the winning run when the Morgan County pitcher overthrew his third baseman while Raley was caught in a rundown.
Ty Murphy pitched the last four innings to pick up the win for Hartselle. He also contributed at the plate with a two-run home run.
Central-Florence 11
Hartselle 0 (5 innings)
Hartselle had a tough time of it against Central-Florence Thursday night, falling in a shutout and managing just one hit off Central-Florence's Jordan Lindley. Andrew Sandor had Hartselle's lone hit, a single in the second inning.
Daryn Raley started on the mound for Hartselle, going three innings before being replaced by Ty Murphy. With the loss, Hartselle fell to 2-1 in district play while Central-Florence improved to 3-0.
Hartselle 22
Cherokee 4 (5 innings)
Hartselle improved to 2-0 with the victory, coming back from an early 4-0 deficit to easily defeat Cherokee, which fell to 0-2.
Hartselle scored one run in the first inning, 10 runs in the third and 11 runs in the fourth to put the game away. Every player except one reached base at least once and scored at least one run in the rout.
Leading the offensive onslaught was leadoff hitter Tres Austin, who finished 4-for-4 at the plate, scored four runs and collected five RBIs. Three of those RBIs came on a two-out bases-clearing double in the third inning. Ty Murphy hit a two-run home run and Daryn Raley hit a three-run shot, with both longballs coming in the fourth inning. Raley finished the game with four RBIs and also scored two runs.
Ty Murphy and Aaron Lee scored three runs; Zack Letson and Chase Hall scored two runs each; and Ethan Boggs, Blake Hoffman, Daniel Wilhite, Andrew Sandor, Michael McMurry and Tyler Bennett each scored one run.
Boggs, Wilhite, Murphy and Lee each had two RBIs and Bennett and McMurry both had one RBI.
Murphy picked up the win on the mound, pitching 3.2 innings in relief with six strikeouts and no hits or runs allowed.