By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
ATHENS – The Hartselle 13-year-old All-Stars saw their trip to the state tournament end Sunday afternoon with a 10-2 loss to Taylorville at the Athens Sportsplex. Hartselle finished the tournament with a record of 1-2, dropping its opener Friday against Cherokee County before bouncing back with a win Saturday against Boaz.
Taylorville 10, Hartselle 2
Hartselle took a one-run lead after the top of the first inning, but it could have been more. Ryan Brown led off with a walk and Jacob Garrison followed with a single. The next batter, Kameron Wallace, hit a double that scored Brown and gave Hartselle a 1-0 lead with runners on second and third with no outs.
Hartselle could not bring home the runners; Garrison was thrown out trying to score and Hartselle's next two batters harmlessly flew out to end the inning.
"It's always pretty tough to get wins at State," Wallace said. "If you've got a chance to score runs, you have to pull through."
Taylorville scored one run in the second inning, three runs in the third inning and five more in the fifth to take a dominating 9-1 lead. Taylorville took advantage of three Hartselle errors in the fifth inning.
Hartselle scored its final run in the top of the sixth inning. Wallace led off with a double, his second of the game, and moved to third on Colby Nelson's groundout. Gavin Marsh followed with an RBI groundout.
"We could have played a lot better," Hartselle's Michael Robinson said. "We just didn't make the plays that we needed to make."
Hartselle 9, Boaz 2
Saturday evening, Hartselle scored seven runs in the seventh inning to break open a close game and pick up its first victory at the state tournament.
"We knew that we had to win the game Saturday or we'd have to go home," Hartselle's Reese Ashwander said. "We just came out and played as hard as we could."
Hartselle fell behind 2-0 after Boaz scored runs in the first and second innings. In the top of the third inning, Hartselle's Dalton Stisher led off with a walk and moved to third on a single by Robinson. Ryan Brown followed with a double to score both Stisher and Robinson.
The game remained tied until the seventh inning, when Ashwander led off with a walk and moved into scoring position on a single by Robinson. Brown's RBI single scored Ashwander and Wallace followed with a double to score both Brown and Robinson and put Hartselle up 5-2. Landin Henderson followed with a two-run triple.
Cherokee County 8, Hartselle 7
Hartselle's comeback attempt came up short as the team opened the state tournament with a heartbreaking loss.
Down 8-5 heading into the top of the seventh inning, Hartselle scored two runs in the seventh and had the bases loaded with one out but could not score.
Wallace led off the inning with a single and Nelson followed with a double. Marsh's RBI groundout scored Wallace, and Nelson scored on an error that also allowed Todd Gibson to reach safely. Ashwander reached on an error and Stisher walked to load the bases, but Hartselle could not manage to bring home the tying run. Hartselle took the loss despite its pitchers allowing just two hits to the Cherokee County offense.
Hartselle took an early lead in the game, scoring four runs in the third inning, all with two outs. Garrison hit a two-out double and came home to score when Wallace followed with a home run to deep center, fouling off five straight pitches before connecting on a 1-2 count.
Nelson walked and Marsh followed with a single and both runners scored on a single from Gibson.
Cherokee County scored two runs in the third inning and four in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. Hartselle managed to get one run back in the sixth inning when Stisher's sacrifice fly scored Gibson, who reached with a leadoff walk and stole second and third.