By By Zach Brooks, Sports Writer
The Babe Ruth 14 year-old tournament team participated in last weeks District Tournament held in Brewton in which they placed a very respectable second place.
Atmore competed in the tournament against teams from Monroeville, South Monroe and Brewton.
The 14 year-old's second place finish is even more amazing because they had to come out of the loser's bracket and win three consecutive games.
Atmore played their first game of the tournament against Brewton.
Atmore came into the game with high expectations of winning and they did not disappoint the Atmore crowd in the first four innings, as they jumped out to a 8-5 lead.
But after the fourth inning, Atmore could not hold Brewton's offense down, as they managed to score thirteen runs in the game's final three innings to earn the 18-9 victory.
Chris Graham started the game for Atmore and got a no decision. Graham pitched four innings: allowing three hits, five runs, two walks, and five strikeouts.
Matthew Reynolds earned the loss on the mound for Atmore. He pitched one inning allowing five runs on four hits.
Graham also had a great day at the plate. He went two for four with one run scored and three RBI's.
Brandon Arnold, Miller McCaster, and Clayton Hanyie also had good days at the plate for Atmore. Arnold went two for four with two runs scored and two RBI's, McCaster went two for three with three runs scored, and Hanyie went one for three with one run scored and two RBI's.
Atmore played their second game of the tournament on Friday against Monroeville. They knew that they had to win this game to stay alive in the tournament.
And win they did, as they used an awesome pitching performance from starting pitcher Matthew Reynolds to shut-out Monroeville 11-0.
Reynolds earned his first win of the tournament as he pitched all five innings of the game allowing only one hit, no runs, one walk, and eleven strikeouts.
Brandon Arnold, Charles Dailey, and Chris Graham lead Atmore at the plate against Monroeville. Arnold went four for four with three runs scored and one RBI, Dailey went two for three with one run scored and two RBI's, and Graham went two for three with one run scored and three RBI's.
Chris Andrews and Miller McCaster also had good day at the plate for Atmore. Andrews went three for three with two runs scored, while McCaster went one for three with two runs scored and one RBI.
Atmore's next game was against South Monroe on Saturday. It was to be the first game of a double-header if Atmore won the first game.
This game was the best game of the tournament as both teams carried a 0-0 game into extra innings.
Atmore finally won the game in the eleventh inning of what was supposed to be a seven inning game, on the strength of a Charles Dailey single that scored two runners.
Atmore used a trio of pitchers to record the eleven inning shut-out. Charles Dailey pitched three innings allowing one hit, no runs, two walks, and no strikeouts. Miller McCaster pitched four innings allowing no hits, no runs, one walk, and no strikeouts, and Chris Graham pitched the final five innings allowing three hits, no runs, one walk, and two strikeouts.
Charles Dailey lead Atmore at the plate as he went three for six with two RBI's.
Brandon Arnold, Miller McCaster, and Chris Graham also had good games at the plate as they all went two for five.
Chris Andrews also had a good game at the plate for Atmore as he went two for five with one run scored and one RBI.
Atmore's last game of the tournament was in the semi-finals against Brewton.
The game was Atmore's second game of the day, as they had defeated South Monroe earlier in the day.
If Atmore's game against South Monroe was the best game of the tournament then this game was the most exciting.
Brewton started out the game by jumping out to a 11-3 lead after the fourth inning, but in the fifth inning Atmore started coming back.
They scored two runs in the fifth inning to trim Brewton's lead down to 11-5.
Brewton scored three more runs in the top of the sixth inning to give them a nine run lead at 14-5.
Atmore could have just quit in the bottom of the seventh, but they did not and it set the stage for the most exciting inning of the tournament.
Atmore scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, thanks in large part to a string of hits put together by Chris Graham, Matthew Reynolds, Kevin Greene, and Bruce Smith.
Even though Atmore would score seven runs in the seventh it was not enough to overcome the Brewton lead as they won the game 14-12.
Charles Dailey, Chris Graham, Chris Andrews, and Clayton Hanyie had great games at the plate. Dailey went two for three with two runs scored and two RBI's, Graham went three for three with three runs scored and two RBI's, Andrews went two for three with two runs scored and two RBI's, and Hanyie went two for four with two RBI's.
Kevin Greene earned the loss on the mound for Atmore. He pitched two inning: allowing four hits, three runs, two walks, and no strikeouts.
Charles Dailey and Miller McCaster also pitched for Atmore. Dailey pitched three innings allowing seven hits, eight runs, no walks, and three strikeouts, while McCaster pitched two innings: allowing five hits, three runs, no walks, and one strikeouts.
Even though they lost the tournament they will still play in the Area Tournament in Atmore this week end.