Jackson edges Andy

Published 12:00 am Monday, July 22, 2002

A close game ended with a heart-breaking loss against the Jackson All-Stars for the Andalusia All-Stars at the 11- and 12-year-old Little League Tournament being played at the Andalusia Sports Complex. The loss eliminated Andalusia from the tournament.

Andalusia held an early 1-0 lead in the game against Jackson when David Dove scored in the top of the second inning after reaching base on a double. He scored on an RBI-double by Brent Shiver.

The Jackson All-Stars tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Grant Brown reached base on a walk and came around to score.

The score remained tied until Jackson was down to their last out in the bottom of the sixth inning. A run would win the game, if not it would head into extra innings.

The Jackson batters seemed to be taking pitches and lead-off batter Matthew Allen fell behind in the count 0-2 against starting pitcher Ryan Godwin. Allen, however, earned a walk.

Clint Moseley was the next batter for Jackson and he also earned a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Joe Kyser came in to pitch for Andalusia against Matthew Rodriguez. Kyser struggled with his control and Rodriguez drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.

The Andalusia coaches then put the ball in the hands of left-handed pitcher Taylor Culbreth. The coaches also brought the infielders in for a force out at the plate.

The strategy worked with Culbreth getting a grounder to second resulting in a force out at the plate.

The next batter struck out and Andalusia was one out away from getting out of a bases-loaded jam.

Kent Myer dug in at the plate for the Jackson All-Stars and after taking the first pitch for a ball, hit a slow-rolling grounder toward third base.

The Andalusia third baseman scooped up the slow roller and fired to first for a force out, but Myer beat out an infield single with Moseley scoring the winning run on the play.

Jackson will play again at 6 p.m. today against the winner of last night's late game between Russellville and Cottage Hill.

Tonight's late game pits the last two undefeated teams in the tournament against each other. The International Huntsville team (2-0) will face the Phenix City All-Stars (1-0) at 8 p.m.

The tournament began with Huntsville topping Russellville by a final score of 6-1 on Saturday.

Huntsville went on top 5-0 in the second inning and was on top 6-0 after five innings of play. Russellville managed to score one run in the top of the sixth when Troy Oliver reached on a walk, moved to second on a passed ball and scored later in the inning.

Huntsville's runs came from Nic Dowd, Will Keenum, Bryant Grace, Wesley Neighbors, Hunter Lee and Spencer Daniel. Dowd hit a home run in the game.

The second game of the tournament went extra innings with Cottage Hill earning a 7-5 victory over the Jackson All-Stars when Daniel Williams hit a two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning after Damario Ambrose had reached on a single.

Cottage Hill went on top 3-0 in the first inning when Ryan Zalopany, Morgan Law and Grant Ellis scored. Cottage Hill continued to score and went on top 5-0 when Joe Reindl and Ambrose scored.

Jackson scored two runs in the third inning when Kenneth Harbuck and Matthew Rodriguez rounded the bases. Jackson tied the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Rodriguez, Kent Myer and Matthew Allen scored to tie the game at 5-5 and eventually send it into extra inning.

In the third game of the tournament, Cottage Hill fell to Phenix City by a final score of 8-1. Phenix City went on top 1-0 in the top of the third inning when Cody Pearcy scored. In the fourth inning, Scott Balkcum and Josh Hurst added to Phenix City's lead when they rounded the bases.

In the fifth inning, Phenix City added to its lead again when Bryce Lane, Nathan Kilcrease and Chad Robinson each scored.

In the sixth inning, Bryce Lane and Chad Robinson both scored with Robinson hitting a home run.

Cottage Hill's only run came in the sixth inning when Joe Reindl scored.

In the fourth game of the tournament, the host Andalusia All-Stars were shut out by the Huntsville All-Stars. Huntsville earned an 11-0 win in five innings.

Bryant Grace and Joe Louis Fleming pitched for Huntsville and combined their efforts to throw a no-hitter with only five Andalusia batters reaching base on four walks and one error. They combined to record seven strikeouts.

Huntsville went on top 3-0 in the second inning when Raynor Boles, Wesley Neighbors and Hunter Lee scored.

In the fifth inning, Huntsville's All-Stars scored eight more runs and held Andalusia scoreless in the bottom of the fifth to record the win.

In the fifth inning, Nic Dowd, Ross Ivey, Bryant Grace, Mclain Leberte, Hardy Reynolds, Wesley Neighbors, Hunter Lee and Joe Louis Fleming each scored a run for Huntsville.