By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Advance Managing Editor
The Cal Ripken Baseball League got underway Saturday with three games and an opening ceremony.
Teams in the minor league division, 9- and 10-year olds, and the major leagues, 11- and 12-year-olds, played three games. During the opening ceremony the teams, the 11-year-old all-stars and the 12-year-old all stars, which won the state championships last season were recognized and Miss Bambino 2000 Railyn James threw out the first pitch.
After the ceremony it was time to play ball.
Minor League
Bears 18, Lions 17
In the closest game of the day, the Edgar Business Machine Bears and the Swift Supply Lions battled with the Bears claiming a one-run victory.
Kent Howard, Tyler Hostetler, Nick Dailey and Tanner Kirk scored in the first inning for the Bears. Chris Smith, Cedric Pierce, Howard and Hostetler scored in the second to give the Bears an 8-0 lead.
The Lions got on the board in the bottom of the inning as Chase Godwin and Tyler Mosser scored.
The Bears' offense continued to produce as Howard, Hostetler, Mitch Yoder, Randy Fretwell, Suvrat Soni and Smith scored to make the score 14-2.
But the Lions came roaring back. Thomas Moore, Buddy Valentine, Perry Jones, Chase Godwin and Mosser each scored to cut the lead to 14-7.
The Lions held the Bears in the fourth and Damian Henderson, Moore, Valentine and Brad Mitchell scored in the bottom of the inning to make the score 14-11.
Kenny English scored a run for the Bears in the fifth to increase the lead, 15-11.
Gary Barnes, Michael Campbell and Brad Mitchell put the Lions within striking range, 15-14.
Dailey, Kirk and Robert Poole scored in the seventh and gave the Bears an 18-14 lead.
The Lions made another gallant effort in the bottom of the seventh as Valentine, Perry Jones and Godwin came into score. But, the final out was made with the Lions still down by one.
Beavers 23, Cubs 10
The Staff Chevrolet Beavers chewed up the Maxwell-Haley-Castleberry Cubs and scored a 23-10 victory.
Garrett Walley, Nick Flowers, Haden McGill, Jon Dean, Dillian Overstreet and Clayton Johnson all scored in the first for the Beavers.
Marshall Rolin and Blake Moye made the game 6-2 after scoring in the bottom of the inning for the Cubs.
Flowers, McGill, Dean, Overstreet, Peoples and Johnson scored again in the third to move to a 12-2 lead.
Riley Workman and Chris Phillips scored in the bottom of the inning to make the game 12-4.
Devante Brown, Marshall Burkett, Colby White scored three of the Beavers ten runs in the fourth to put the game out of reach for the Cubs.
Cocy Janes scored the final run for the Bears.
Ryan Linam, Levi Gideons, Justin Stabler, Workman, Phillips and Cody Mooney rounded out the scoring for the Cubs.
Beavers 33, Cardinals 3
The Beavers continued their hot streak with a 33-3 win over the Atmore Vision Center Cardinals.
Garrett Walley, Haden McGill and Jon Dean got things going for the Beavers with three runs in the first.
The Cards kept pace as Cameron McGhee, Trey Grant and Austin Lee all scored.
But, from there it was all Beavers as they scored 30 more runs. Dean hit an inside-the-park homerun to help lead the offensive effort.
Grant scored the Cardinals only other run.
Major League
Braves 6, Twins 4
The Atmore Insurance Braves got a win under their belt as they defeated the Churchs Chicken Twins, 6-4.
The Braves took the lead in top of the first as Benn Hess and Anthony Matthews came into score.
The Twins came back to cut the lead to 2-1 as Ethan Brooks scored.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the third when Elliot Faircloth, Joe Drew and Justin Boykin gave the Twins a 4-2 advantage.
The Braves pulled to within one as Timothy Bright scored in the top of the fourth.
The Braves' defense held the Twins and in the top of the fifth they took the lead as Hess, Matthews and Kendrick Staples scored.
A's 7, Warriors 3
The First National Bank Athletics pulled out a victory over the United Bank Warriors, 7-3.
Guyel Martin put the Warriors on top, 1-0 in the top of the first.
But, Blake Pearson and Lawrence Thomas each scored in the bottom of the inning to give the A's a 2-1 edge.
Blake Wilson tied the game in the second for the Warriors to tie the game.
Again, the A's answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning as Josh Dorriety and Ryan Garrison came around.
The Warriors pulled to within one as Mitchell Rolin came in to score in the third.
That was as close as the Warriors ever got as Brent Bell scored in the bottom of the third and Pearson and Jonathan McNeil scored in the fourth to seal the victory for the A's.
Cardinals 15, Tigers 8
The Lions Club Cardinals came back from an early deficit to score a 15-8 victory over the Rotary Club Tigers.
The Tigers jumped on top early as Ben Nameth, A.J. Beachy, Corey Flowers and Cameron Cobb scored in the first inning.
The Cards cut the lead to two when Ryan Chason and Steven Yoder scored in the top of the second.
Flowers scored his second run of the day to give the Tigers a 5-2 edge in the top of the bottom of the second.
The Cards held the Tigers in the third and Jamorris Curry and Justin Rolin scored to pull them to within one, 5-4.
Flowers again gave the Tigers another run as he scored in the fifth which lifted the Tigers to a 6-4 lead.
But the Cards got hot in the fifth as Tyler Brown, Cody Norton, Ryan Chason, Curry, Jordan Hastings, Rolin and Blaire O'Brien all scored to lift the Cards to an 11-6 lead.
The Cardinals began to put the game away in the top of the fifth as Brown, Norton, Chason and came around to score, making the score 15-6.
Blake Walker and Mitchell Brown closed the gap by scoring in the sixth, but the Tigers fell short as the game ended with them down 15-8.