The Northwest Escambia (NWE) 12U All-Star baseball team recently competed in the state tournament in Alexander City, but finished 0-4 in their efforts.

NWE lost their first game of the state tournament 4-3, lost game two 8-3, lost game three 11-9 and lost their fourth and final game 13-3.

Coach Gil Bonner said the NWE All-Stars played hard but were just unable to match up well with the other teams at the state level.

“We played as solid on defense as any team there, but offensively we could not compete with them,” Bonner said. “We were just still playing Little League. Little League has higher restraints on bats and they had bats that were able to hit homeruns on fields 250 feet long. I am not making excuses because we played our butts off. We made the plays we were supposed to make, but when the ball does not stay in the park it is hard to compete.”

In the second game at state, Bonner said they were tied 3-3 in the fourth inning when the homeruns began to go out of the park.

“They hit three homeruns and all of a sudden it was 8-3,” he said. “We were just outplayed from one end to another and just could not compete with that type of offense. They had 80-90 pound kids hitting homeruns and balls off the fence. I can’t change the results. We were just not prepared for all that.”

Earlier in the All-Star’s season, Northwest Escambia earned the district championship in Atmore with a come-from-behind, 9-8 win over Tri-County.

Members of this year’s district championship team for NWE: Adrian King (No. 2, first base/pitcher); Daniel Mascaro (No. 21, centerfield/pitcher); Trey Holder (No. 10, right field); Jason Fischer (No. 3, first base/pitcher); Chase Gifford (No. 24, second base); Preston Milstead (No. 11, shortstop); Jacob McCullough  (No. 22, catcher); Beau Bryan (No. 1, leftfield); Jackson Bonner (No. 9, third base).