| St. Charles pulls off pair of wins over CPS to take T-Ball crown |
By: By John Arnold - Special to The Press
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Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 2:39 pm
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| The Martin boy’s T-Ball championship tournament came to an end with St. Charles & Murphy declared this year’s champs after a pair of games Thursday evening at the Martin Recreation Complex.
In this double elimination tournament, St. Charles, already suffering one loss, needed to win two games against Crop Production Services and this proved to be no problem. Having only eight players, CPS came out swinging the hot bats in the first inning getting nine hits and six runs including a home run by Michael Ford, but St. Charles soon answered during its first at-bat scoring six runs off nine hits including a grand slam from Malik Pogue. With the two teams tied going into the second inning, CPS scored another six runs and got hits from Jace Brown, Ty Simpson and Andrew Burnett.
Once again, St. Charles answered with five runs on eight hits.
CPS only scored one more run over the next three innings, leaving the door open for St. Charles which scored one in the third, seven in the fourth and four in the fifth inning to give its crew the 23-13 win and entitle them to proceed in the tournament for one more game with the championship at stake.
Much like the first game, the second consecutive game started off with explosive offense as Crop Production Services strung together nine hits for eight runs including a three-run home run from Ty Simpson. Capitalizing on the momentum of its first win, St. Charles put together five runs off seven hits with key RBIs from Alec Sowell and Ethan Rose.
Going into the second inning with an 8-5 lead, CPS showed no signs of mercy by scoring another five runs to hand its crew a 13-5 advantage.
Undeterred by its eight-run deficit, St. Charles fought back gaining six runs off eight hits including a homer by Garrett Byrd. Looking to continue its hitting streak, CPS fell somewhat short in the third inning only scoring three runs.
Down 16-11 in the bottom of the third inning, St. Charles saw the opportunity and exploited it by scoring six runs off seven hits and getting two home runs — one each from Byrd and Pogue — to take its first lead of the game. CPS, being down by one run and time drawing to a close, rallied in the final inning to score seven runs as official time ran out.
Despite the fact that official time had expired, the home team is afforded the last batting opportunity. St. Charles certainly took full advantage of this rule, as it scored seven runs to eke out the 24-23 victory and the tournament championship. |
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