By By Tony Krausz/assistant sports editor
July 13, 2003
West Lauderdale overcame an early deficit and a mental mistake in the fourth inning to claim victory over East Mississippi in the championship game of the District 4 Dixie Youth Minor League Tournament on Saturday at Center Hill.
Down by three runs entering the bottom of the fifth, West Lauderdale pounded out four runs on three hits to produce its 6-5 win for the crown.
The rally in the fifth inning helped West Lauderdale erase a mistake in the previous inning.
With East Mississippi leading 2-0, West Lauderdale pitcher Corey Goodman induced a ground ball for the second out of the inning, with a runner on third.
West Lauderdale ran off the field thinking it was the third out, allowing Hunter Graham scored for East Mississippi with nobody on the field for a 3-0 advantage.
West Lauderdale showcased its new found maturity in the fifth inning trailing East Mississippi 5-2.
Eli Alexander opened the bottom of the fifth for West Lauderdale ripping a single up the middle, and Goodman drove in Alexander with a double to left-center field.
Trey McPherson kept the rally going for West Lauderdale reaching base on a throwing error to put runners on first and third with no outs.
Garrett McBeth smashed a triple to right-center following the error to tie the game at five.
West Lauderdale capped the scoring for the fifth with a sacrifice grounder to the left side of the infield by Kaleb Smith that allowed McBeth to score the game winning run.
Dustin James took the mound for West Lauderdale in the final inning, and he sent the East Mississippi batters in order to seal the win.
James struck out two batters and induced an infield pop up to end the game.
East Mississippi scored the game's first run in the opening inning.
Tyler Lott led off the game drawing a walk, and he advanced to third on a wild pitch and a single by Kasey Hinton.
Lott scored on a wild pitch for the early 1-0 advantage.
East Mississippi added two more runs in the fourth inning on an RBI double from Graham that scored Jason Yarbor and the West Lauderdale mistake.
West Lauderdale notched two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run double from Smoky Ethridge that scored James and Gary Thomas, who hit back-to-back singles with two outs.
East Mississippi scored two-runs in the top of the fifth off an wild pitch and an RBI ground out for a 5-2 advantage.
Ethridge paced West Lauderdale's offense going 2-for-2, and five players each recorded singles in the win.