SHS wins county tourney

Published 11:57 pm Monday, March 9, 2009

Good hitting and baserunning led the Straughn Tigers to their first Covington County tournament title over the weekend in Pleasant Home.

The Tigers swept Red Level, Florala and Pleasant Home in three games.

Straughn moves to 7-2 on the season after the weekend success at PHS and will host Andalusia tonight in a varsity doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.

Straughn 1, Red Level 0

In Straughn’s first game against Red Level, the winning run did not occur until the top of the fifth inning when Levi Lumpkin hit an infield single with two outs to bring courtesy runner Chase Short in for the run.

Leading up to the score for Straughn, Luke Fussell led off with a single and Chase Parker bunted, which led to Fussell being thrown out at second base.

Short came in for Parker and moved to second on a ground ball hit by Cole Armstrong. Short then stole third base with two outs before Lumpkin made it possible for Short to score.

“We had to manufacture that run,” Straughn coach John Fussell said. “We only had four hits and they all were singles.”

Josh Dewrell won the game for Straughn on the mound. Dewrell pitched 7.0 innings, had 12 strikeouts, no walks and gave up six hits. Cale Nolen took the hard-luck loss for Red Level.

Straughn’s Tyler Yelverton, Drew Jones, Luke Fussell and Levi Lumpkin all had one single apiece Friday.

Straughn 11, Florala 1

Straughn’s Zack Stinson helped lead his team to a win, pitching 3.0 innings with five strikeouts, no walks, one hit and one earned run.

Nick Allen and Cole Armstrong finished the game for Stinson.

Fussell said the second game, which was played on Saturday, was one where his team played better at the plate.

“We hit the ball real well,” he said. “We didn’t run the bases real well. We had some mistakes.”

Straughn’s Josh Dewrell was 2-for-3 with one single and one home run; Armstrong was 2-for-3 with one double and a triple; and Luke Fussell was 2-for-2 with two singles.

Straughn 13,

Pleasant Home 0

Straughn’s Nick Allen got the game started for his team by hitting a three-run home run in the first inning to help lead his team to the tournament championship.

“(Allen’s homerun) really set the tempo because right after that, we just started stringing out a bunch of hits,” Fussell said. “We scored seven runs in the second inning and by the end of that inning, it was 10-0.”

Cody Hughes won the game for Straughn on the mound, pitching 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts, four walks and one hit allowed.

Straughn’s Josh Dewrell was 2-for-4 with one single, one double and two RBIs; Zack Stinson was 2-for-4 with one single, one double and one RBI; Nick Allen was 2-for-3 with one single, one homerun and four RBIs; and Chase Parker was 2-for-3 with two singles and two RBIs.

The Tigers will host Andalusia tonight in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.

Fussell said right now, the players feel pretty good about playing Andalusia at home.

“I feel like our players are a lot more confident now then when they played before,” Fussell said. “I think they’re looking forward to playing in Straughn. We faced real good pitchers this weekend and hit the ball pretty well. They should play good defense and should have a lot of confidence for Tuesday’s game.