By By Zach Brooks, Sports Writer
The Babe Ruth 13 year-old tournament team began their run to the state championship last weekend in Excel, by competing in the Babe Ruth District Tournament.
The four teams competing in the tournament were Brewton, South Monroe, Monroeville, and Atmore.
The Atmore team was competing in the district tournament to prepare for the Babe Ruth Area Tournament that will be held in Atmore on July 11-15.
The Atmore team began the tournament by playing a very solid South Monroe team on Thursday night.
The first game did not start out well for Atmore as they allowed three runs in the first inning to quickly fall behind 3-0, They could not get anything going on offense as they went down in order to South Monroe starter Jeffrey Williams.
The second inning was a no better for Atmore, as South Monroe scored two runs off Atmore starter Joe Drew to lengthen their lead too 5-0.
Once again the Atmore offense could not get anything going on offense in the bottom of the second inning, so the score remained 5-0 heading into the third inning.
After holding South Monroe scoreless in the top of the third inning, the Atmore offense finally got things going as they managed to score three runs, making the score 5-3.
Neither team managed to score a run or get a hit in the fourth inning, so the score remained at 5-3 heading into the fifth inning.
Mother Nature entered into the game as the bottom fell out of a bad thunderstorm, postponeing the game until 5:30 p.m. the next day.
When play resumed South Monroe scored in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to take a commanding 7-3 lead.
Atmore could not get anything going on offense in the last three innings, so they were defeated by South Monroe 7-3.
Joe Drew took the loss on the mound for Atmore. He pitched four innings allowing seven runs on four hits, eight walks, and 10 strikeouts.
Johnathan McNeil also pitched for Atmore. He pitched two innings with no runs, one hit, no walks, and five strikeouts.
McNeil and Drew also lead Atmore at the plate against South Monroe. McNeil went one for four with one run scored and one RBI, while Drew went one for three with one RBI.
Anthony Mathews and Ryan Chason scored Atmore's other two runs, while Skylar Rolin, Cody Norton, and Corey Flowers all went one for three.
Their first lose put Atmore in the losers bracket and they had to play Monroeville in the last game of the night to see who would be the first team out of the tournament.
The game against Monroeville was all Atmore right from the start, as they totally dominated on their way to a 16-6 victory.
Monroeville started out the game well by scoring three runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Atmore did most of their damage in the second inning of the game, as they managed to score 10 runs in the inning to take a commanding 10-3 lead. Every player in the lineup scored in the second inning with leadoff man Blake Pearson scoring twice.
Atmore managed to string together five hits in a row in the second inning. Pearson, Anthony Mathews, Johnathan McNeil, Joseph Drew, and Corey Flowers all had hits in a row for Atmore. A after a walk to Cody Norton, Mitchell Brown, Skylar Rolin, Blake WIlson, and Pearson got the hits going again with another streak of three hits before the inning ended.
After holding Monroeville to no runs in the third inning, Atmore got the scoring going again when they scored three more runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 13-3 lead. Brown, Rolin, and Ryan Chason got the scoring started again as they each got a hit and scored .
Monroeville managed to score two more runs in the top of the fourth inning to make the score 13-5, heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
But in the bottom of the fourth inning Atmore scored three more runs to go up 16-5 heading into the fifth inning.
Monroeville could only get one of the runs back in the top of the fifth inning, so the Atmore team got the victory as they' ten-run ruled' Monroeville 16-6.
Anthony Mathews got the win on the mound for the Atmore squad. He pitched two innings: allowing three runs, two hits, five walks, and had two strikeouts.
McNeil, and Norton also pitched for Atmore. McNeil pitched one inning: allowing no runs, no hits, no walks, and struck out the side for all three outs. Norton pitched the last two inning of the game, as he allowed: five hits, three runs, one walk, and had three strikeouts.
Blake Pearson, Johnathan McNeil, Corey Flowers, Mitchell Brown, and Sklar Rolin all lead Atmore at the plate.
Pearson went two for four with two runs and two RBI's, McNeil went three for 4 with two runs and three RBI's, Flowers went two for four with two runs scored and two RBI's, Brown went three for three with two runs scored, and Rolin went two for three with two runs scored and two RBI's.
Cody Norton, Ryan Chason, and Joe Drew also contributed for Atmore at the plate. Norton went two for four at the plate with one run scored and one RBI, Chason went one for four with two runs scored, and Drew got on base all four times he came up to the plate and managed to score two runs.
With both of their wins on Friday the Atmore team earned the chance to play South Monroe in the Quarterfinals.
Atmore's game against South Monroe was all about redemption. Atmore wanted to redeem themselves for the loss they sustained earlier in the tournament.
And redemption is what Atmore got as they earned a 6-3 victory to earn the chance to play Brewton in the Semi-Finals.
Johnathan McNeil earned the win on the mound for Atmore. He pitched a very solid six innings: allowing seven hits, three runs, two base on balls, and had five strikeouts.
Skylar Rolin and Cody Norton pitched the final inning for Atmore. They combined for one inning of work: allowing no hits, no runs, two walks, and no strikeouts.
McNeil and Blake Pearson lead Atmore at the plate against South Monroe. McNeil went three for five with one RBI, while Pearson went two for two with two runs, and one RBI.
Cory Flowers and Anthony Mathews also had good games at the plate. Flowers went two for three with one run scored and one RBI, while Mathews went one for three with one run scored.
The game against Brewton would mark the second time in as many days that Atmore would have to win both games of a double-header just to stay alive in the tournament.
Atmore showed tremendous heart just to make it this far in the tournament and they were determined not to back down now when they were so close.
Atmore's determination and Brewton's will to win combined together to make this game probably the best game of the tournament
Atmore started off the game in great shape as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the top of the first inning.Pearson, McNeil, Norton, Brown, and Rolin all had hits in Atmore's four-run inning with Pearson, McNeil, and Norton scoring also.
Brewton got one run back in the bottom of the first inning off of Atmore starter Joe Drew to trim Atmore's lead down to 4-1 heading into the second inning.
Atmore could not get anything