By By Chandler Myers
The Cal Ripken season came to a sudden halt Tuesday night as the 12-year-old Atmore All-Star team fell 4-2 to the Matthews Park All-Stars at Theodore’s athletic complex.
With a berth in the Cal Ripken District Championship on the line, Atmore’s Cal Ripken All-Stars took the field as the No. 2 seed in the semifinals playing against a well-balanced Matthews Park team.
In the first inning, Matthews Park’s team stepped up to the plate and immediately made an impact as Callier ripped a single to be the first player on base. Two batters later McClain was walked by Atmore starting pitcher Tanner Smith.
Callier and McClain then put Matthews Park on the board 2-0 when J. Williams hit an RBI-single into play.
In the bottom of the first, Atmore finally got its chance to put some runs on the board, but had a hard time reaching base as Tristan McAnally and Coby Smith both popped out.
Tristen Montgomery did give Atmore some hope as he ripped a home run to pull his team within one run of Matthews Park.
Tanner Smith then shutdown Matthews Park in the second, third and fourth innings striking out the side in the fourth.
Offensively, Atmore also hit a brick wall with Matthews Park holding them to their one run even with the bases loaded in the second inning.
Nate Smith finally got the Atmore All-Stars on the scoreboard again as he sent a pitch over the centerfield fence for Atmore’s second home run of the game, which tied the game at two.
Matthew’s Park pulled back into the lead in the fifth inning as two runs scored on passed balls by the catcher.
First, Drinkard reached base on an error by the second baseman and later scored on a pitch that was mishandled by Atmore’s catcher. The fourth run scored when Callier who was walked earlier also made it home on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, Atmore tried to get a rally going, but could not get men on base in the fifth and stranded two players in their final at-bat sending Matthews Park to the championship.