By By Chandler Myers
Atmore Lions Club Cardinals pitcher Trey Weekes pitched six innings to help his team defeat the Poarch Creek Indians 7-5 Thursday night in Cal Ripken Major League action.
Weekes completed the game striking out nine batters. He also went 1-for-3 at the plate with a single and a run scored.
Poarch got on the board first striking in the second inning as Tadd Wall reached base on a single. He was knocked in on a fielder’s choice by Bo Ramer to help PCI take a 1-0 lead.
Dalton Simmons answered for the Cardinals in the bottom of the second as he was walked and scored on a double by Davonte Dailey.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Cardinals added to their lead as Jon-Jon Griffis, Tripp Vickery, Newt Lambeth and Tristan Portwood all crossed the plate to give their team a comfortable 5-1 lead.
The visiting team finally added to their score in the fourth inning as Drake Hamilton reached base and scored on two passed balls by the catcher to make the score 5-2.
The Cardinals pulled further ahead in the fourth inning as Griffis scored his second run of the game along with Trey Weekes’ run to give the Cards a 7-2 lead.
Poarch fought back in the fifth inning scoring three runs as Nik Shivers, Tristen Montgomery and Taylor McGhee all made it around the base path, but three up and three down in the top of the sixth would halt their chances.
Rangers 7
Athletics 4
A slow start did not stop the Atmore VFW Rangers from beating the First National Bank &Trust Athletics 7-4 Thursday in a battle of Cal Ripken Major League teams.
The Athletics offense started off with a bang as they scored three runs in the first inning. J.P. Sawyer, Garrett Kirk and Clay Walker all reached base with Walker being the catalyst knocking in Sawyer and Kirk by ripping a triple.
Both offenses stalled in the second inning as the Athletics continued to lead the game 3-0.
In the third inning, the Rangers finally got on the board with four runs as Wesley Hostetler, Arri Torres, Perry Metzler and Eric Williams all crossed the plate to give their team its first lead of the game.
Kirk scored his second run of the game in the fifth inning and helped the Athletics tie the game at four.
The heart of the Rangers order came up in the bottom of the fifth, which aided the Rangers in securing the victory as Torres, Metzler and Deandre McCarthy all scored runs.
Tigers 4
PCI 3
The Cal Ripken Major League championship was claimed Tuesday night as the Atmore Rotary Club Tigers edged out the Poarch Creek Indians 4-3.
Tanner Smith led the way for the Tigers on defense as he sent 13 PCI batters down on strikes.
The Tigers quickly got on the scoreboard in the top of the first as Tristan McAnally, Coby Smith and Devante Stephens all crossed the plate to take a 3-0 lead.
Poarch answered in the bottom of the second with Drake Hamilton scoring to pull PCI within two runs.
Tanner Smith put the Tigers ahead by three again as he reached base on a single and was knocked in by Malik Salter’s single.
Poarch got a jolt of offense in the top of the third as Tristen Montgomery sent a shot over the right field fence to make the score 4-2.
Trey McGhee scored the final run of the game to make the score 4-3 and the Tigers the champions.