By Staff
IN THE DIRT – Meridian's Joey Lawn steals second with Olive Branch's Jacob Hewley waiting for the ball during the Cal Ripkin tournament at Phil Hardin Park Saturday. Photo by Carisa McCain/The Meridian Star
By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
July 7, 2002
The Meridian all-stars pounded out a total of 40 runs and allowed only two hits on Saturday as they won two games in the Cal Ripken 9-10-year-old State Tournament at Phil Hardin Park.
Meridian won its first ballgame 14-0 over Olive Branch and then beat New Albany 26-0 in the nightcap.
Joey Lawn, Caleb Melton and Sam Daniel combined to one-hit Olive Branch in the first game and then Witt Haggard, Matt Ware and LaColton Jackson combined to one-hit New Albany.
Meridian will move on to play Jeff Davis at 7 p.m. tonight in a winners' bracket game.
Meridian 14
Olive Branch 0
Meridian scored two runs in the first inning to take an early lead on Saturday morning and then scored nine runs in the third to secure a 14-0 win over Olive Branch.
Michael Sterling started the bottom of the first inning with a fly ball to right. The ball was not caught and Sterling ended up at second. He later moved to third on a wild pitch and stole home when the catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher to make the score 1-0.
Witt Haggard had a solo home run with two outs in the inning to make the score 2-0 after one inning.
Meridian also scored three runs in the second inning with a two-out rally. Lawn reached base when the first baseman dropped a throw to first. He scored when Davis Tucker ripped a triple down the right field line. Sterling brought Tucker in with a single and later scored on a single by Tyi Edmonds to make the score 5-0 after two.
Meridian batted around in the third inning and scored nine runs. Melton had a two-run triple in the inning and Lane Hilliard had a two-run double. The big hit of the inning came from Sam Daniel, who ripped a three-run home run to finish out the scoring in the big inning.
New Albany was held hitless for the first three innings and had only one baserunner during that time. Ethan Welch came through with a hit with one out in the fourth to break up the no-hitter.
Lawn pitched two perfect innings and struck out three batters for Meridian. Melton came in and struck out one batter and Daniel came in to pitch the final inning and kept Olive Branch from scoring.
Meridian 26
New Albany 0
Meridian scored four runs in each of the first three innings and never gave New Albany a chance in a 26-0 rout.
Meridian had a total of 17 hits in the game while New Albany managed only one.
Tucker singled with one out in the top of the first for Meridian. Hilliard also singled. Then with two outs, Daniel singled in a run and Melton followed with a two-run single. Jackson brought in the final run of the inning with a double to make the score 4-0.
Meridian started the second inning off with two walks. Tucker then brought a run in with a single. Haggard ripped a two-run triple to make the score 7-0 and later scored on a double by Daniel.
New Albany walked the first three batters in the third inning and then allowed a run to score on an errant throw to the plate on a groundball. A groundout by Tucker brought in another run. Hilliard followed with a fly ball that was missed allowing two runs to score and make the score 12-0 after three innings.
Meridian batted around twice in the fourth inning and scored 14 runs. All but one player scored in the inning and the player that did not score in the inning drove in two. Meridian sent seven batters to the plate before New Albany got its first out on a sacrifice fly. Meridian then sent nine more batters to the plate before the next out was recorded.
Wesley Jumper led off the bottom of the first with a hit. It would be the only hit of the game for New Albany. It was able to load the bases on a couple of errors in the second inning but could not break the shutout.