By By Matthew Nascone
A close loss can be a tough pill to swallow for any team and the Atmore 11-year-old tournament team knows exactly what that feels like.
Atmore's team traveled to Semmes Park in Mobile June 22 to square off against the Semmes team and walked away on the losing end of a 13-11 game. Semmes struck first in the first inning, scoring two runs. But Atmore returned the favor with two in the bottom of the inning as Chance Jackson and Brandon Metzler crossed the plate.
Atmore took their first lead of the game after a three-run second inning by Semmes with a five-run inning of their own. Brett Helton, Chance Jackson, Paul Arnold, Casey Jackson and Jordan Sasser each scored one run in the inning.
Semmes scored one in the third inning and Helton and Sasser both scored to widen the Atmore lead to 9-7. In the fourth inning Semmes scored one run and took a 12-9 lead with a four-run fifth inning.
Helton and Chance Jackson scored the only other Atmore runs to end the scoring at 13-11.
On June 24 Atmore will play their first game from the loser's bracket and try to get back in the hunt for the district title.
9-year-old Team Two
Atmore Team Two 14 – Grand Bay Team Two 4
Strong performances by Tanner Smith on the mound and Coby Smith at the plate fueled a 14-4 victory for the Atmore 9-year-old team two against Grand Bay's team two June 22.
Tanner Smith threw four innings on the mound and struck out 11 batters. Coby Smith went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and three runs scored for Atmore.
All of Atmore's runs came in the third, fourth or fifth inning as Scott Brantley also scored three runs and was 1-for-2 at the plate. Trey McGhee went 1-for-2 with two runs scored. Perry Metzler scored two runs and was 1-for-1 at the plate. Brodie Amos was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Tristan McAnally and Tanner Smith each scored one run.
Brantley, Coby Smith and Bo Ramer also saw action on the mound.