The Martin Luther King Little League All-Stars hit the road for district tournament play last weekend in Excel, finishing with a big win sandwiched between two big losses.

Friday the MLK Concerned Citizens Cardinals suffered a 19-0 loss at the hands of the Jackson All-Stars, before bouncing back on Monday to even things out at 1-1 on the tourney with a win over Sumpter County.

In the first inning of their victory, the Cardinals allowed two runs, but scored two of their own off runs from Frank Gulley and Allen Patterson. Sumpter County scored twice more in the second to take a 4-2 lead, but the Cardinals would tack on another run from Patterson in the third to pull within a point of the lead. Both teams scored twice in the fourth inning as the Cardinals added runs from Jordaun Patterson and Tykee Stots.

Sumpter County would find one run in both the fifth and sixth innings, but their scores were no match for the Cardinal’s sixth inning scoring bonanza that included runs from Gulley, Stots, Allen Patterson, Carlos Richardson, Marvin Lawson and Louie Turner, giving the Atmore MLK team an 11-8 victory.

The Cardinals were not able to keep the magic alive Tuesday in their final tournament game. Atmore found only two runs in the first inning off scores from Turner and Louie Johnson and would fall 34-2 to end their year.