Hartselle beats rival, wins title

FLINT CITY – Connor McKee drove in two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday night to send Hartselle National to the Dixie Youth 9-10 District 1 championship with a 6-5 victory over Morgan County Central.
Hartselle finished with five hits in the game – Derek Bunn, Jackson Terry, Connor Burks and Taylor Easterling all had singles – with McKee’s hit coming with two on in extra innings
Connor McKee was the winning pitcher.
Hartselle will play in the AAA state tournament in Troy beginning July 23.
“Our kids just kept fighting to the end,” said Hartselle National head coach David Easterling. “They played hard from the first pitch to the last out.”
Morgan County Central lost twice in the 10-team tournament – both to Hartselle – to finish second.
During the tournament, Morgan County Central rallied twice from large deficits to stay alive in the tournament. The team trailed Decatur 8-0 early and came back to win. A day later, the team trailed Athens 9-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning to reach the championship game.
Morgan County Central had 13 hits in the championship game with Dakota Bennett leading the way with two singles and a double.
Nic Reid, Alex Fowler and Blake Eason had two hits each, while Riley Wood, Landon Nelson, Trace Hill and Connor Skinner added one hit each.
Hartselle opened up a 4-0 lead after two innings with the help of three Morgan County Central errors.
Morgan County Central trimmed the gap to 4-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. Reid capped the inning with a double.
The Central team tied the game in the sixth inning with four hits. Two runs scored when Bennett’s fly to center dropped in safely.
Hill surrendered an infield single off his leg in the bottom of the sixth inning, but ended the threat with a couple of infield outs.
Hartselle’s first two batters in the seventh reached on errors before McKee came up with the game-winner in the battle with Morgan County Central.