Staying alive

By Staff
Hartselle American bounces back from opening loss with 2 straight wins at State
Staff Reports, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle American opened its trip to the Dixie Youth AAA 9/10-Year-Old state tournament in Montgomery with a 10-0 loss to Taylorville American, then bounced back with consecutive shutout wins to remain alive. Jorden Robinson and Alston Howard picked up the wins on the mound for Hartselle American, who had 21 hits combined in the two wins after being held hitless in the opening loss.
Hartselle American 10
Fairhope National 0
Hartselle pitchers scattered five hits Monday evening as the Americans stayed alive with a shutout of Fairhope National, guaranteeing Hartselle American no worse than a sixth-place finish.
Alston Howard started the game on the mound for Hartselle, pitching four innings before giving way to JW Clark, who pitched the fifth to close out the victory.
Jorden Robinson had three hits including a triple and Phillip Summerford hit a double. Connor Shelton and Tom Chapman had two singles each and Jacob Bynon, Taylor Steele, Cheston Beard and Tyler Cook each had one single.
Cook's single came with the bases loaded in the second inning, scoring three runs to help break the game wide open.
Hartselle American 11
Dothan American Red 0
Jorden Robinson and JW Clark combined to pick up the shutout, with Clark working out of a bases-loaded one-out jam to preserve the blanking of Dothan American Red Sunday.
Hartselle American finished with nine hits – three from Connor Shelton, two from Taylor Steele and one each from Robinson, Alston Howard and Cheston Beard. Steele and Tom Chapman each scored two runs for Hartselle American and Robinson, Shelton, Jacob Bynon, Howard, Steele and Riley Wiggins each scored once.
Beard hit a two-RBI double in the second inning to put Hartselle American up 4-0. The Americans blew the game open with a seven-run fourth inning.
Taylorville American 10
Hartselle American 0
Hartselle American had a tough time of it with an opening-round loss to Taylorville American Saturday. The Americans were held without a hit by Taylorville, which had eight hits off Hartselle pitching. Five Hartselle American errors helped Taylorville turn the game into a blowout.
Alston Howard started for Hartselle American, pitching two innings and Phillip Summerford and JW Clark each pitched one inning in relief.