Demopolis rounds out pool play

Published 6:07 pm Saturday, July 12, 2008

DEMOPOLIS &8212; The city&8217;s all-star team fell just short of pulling off two last at-bat victories in Thursday nights&8217; action as the 10U team defeated Greensboro 9-8 while the 12U team lost 13-12.

The 10U team gave up four runs early and struggled to rebound, loading the bases and failing to score multiple times throughout the game. Demopolis did score two runs without benefit of a hit when Jacob Rodrigues and Luke Yelverton scored in the bottom of the second inning.

Demopolis surrendered another run in the top of the fourth, answering back in the bottom of the fifth when Rodrigues singled and came around to score on an Emmanuel Thurman groundout, cutting the score to 5-3.

Email newsletter signup

Greensboro appeared to put the game out of reach in the top of the sixth, plating three runs to push the score to 8-3.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth and Will Webb on first base, Mark Joseph Johnson stepped to the plate as Demopolis&8217; last hope. Johnson singled, setting the stage for a Drew Jones double that scored Webb and cut the lead to 8-4. Rodrigues followed, fouling off the first pitch before launching a shot off the left field foul poll to cut the deficit to 8-7.

Thurman followed by ripping a single to left-center field, moving to second on an Adam Sellers base hit. A Caleb Holtzclaw walk loaded the bases for Matthew Dauphin. The 10th batter of the inning, Dauphin hit a single to center, scoring Thurman and squeezing Sellers in under the tag.

While the outcome of the game had no bearing on the seeding for today&8217;s tournament, it did provide a significant momentum swing for Demopolis, who prevented two consecutive losses with the comeback.

In the 12U game, Demopolis was locked in a seesaw affair for most of the night. The home team finally took an 11-10 lead in the bottom of the fifth, only to surrender three runs in the top of the sixth.

Trailing 13-11 in its final at-bat, Demopolis staged a comeback effort of its own. Will Tucker launched his third home run in as many nights to cut the lead to 13-12. Tyler Oates and Logan Boone then managed to get on base before the rally was squelched, dropping Demopolis to 2-2 in the tournament.

Demetrius Kemp led the way with a double and three runs on the evening while Josh Mangume scored twice. William Tutt hit a three-run jack in the first inning to open the game&8217;s scoring. Justus Witherspoon, Michael Brooker, Jack Kerby, Matt Eicher and Oates each scored one run.

The 12U team enters today&8217;s tournament at the Sports-Plex as the No. 3 seed, facing second-seeded Linden at 3:30 p.m. while Butler takes on Greensboro. The winners of those two games will meet for the District 10 championship at 7:30 p.m.

The 10U team will enter as the No. 2 seed, hosting Butler at the Sports-Plex at 1:30 p.m. while Linden simultaneously battles Sumter County. The winners will meet in the championship game at 5:30 p.m.