By Staff
Sparks scores winning run in extra innings
Kim West
RED BAY – The Red Bay junior varsity baseball team won the Red Bay Easter Tournament in dramatic fashion Friday night as the Tigers battled back to beat Lawrence County 5-4 in extra innings.
The Tigers' Austin Sparks scored the winning run after Tra Elliott put the ball into play in the infield and Lawrence County mishandled the throw from shortstop to first base with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
After failing to score in the top of the sixth, the Red Devils' Forrest Smith retired the first two Red Bay hitters. But Sparks swung the momentum back to the Tigers with a full-count walk, and Ben Hubbard followed with an eight-pitch at-bat that drew another full-count walk. After Sparks moved to third and Hubbard advanced to second on a wild pitch, Chance Wooten fought back from a 1-2 count to load the bases with another full-count walk.
Phillip Armstrong earned the victory for Red Bay by striking out three hitters and scattering six hits in six innings. He also had a double and scored two runs for the Tigers, which improved to 21-1 this season.
Red Bay scored a run in the first, second and third innings and then forced the game into extra innings with a sacrifice fly from Austin Malone in the bottom of the fifth that scored Wooten and tied the game at 4-4.
Lawrence County reached the tournament championship game after defeating Waterloo and Tharptown in round-robin play. Red Bay advanced to the finals by downing Tharptown and Waterloo.
In the tournament opener, Red Bay beat the Wildcats 8-0 as Zach Hubbard whiffed 12 batters in five innings.
Kevin Hastings led Red Bay with two hits as the Tigers scored five runs in the first inning and three in the second. Malone drove in two runs and had a hit, while Chase Lindsey, Wooten added one hit and Ben Hubbard had an RBI and a hit.
The Tigers beat Waterloo 6-2 as Lindsey struck out seven batters and allowed only one hit.
The Cougars pushed across two runs in top of fourth to cut Red Bay's lead to -4-2 but the Tigers responded with two more runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game away.
Armstrong had a hit, run and RBI, while Hastings and Zach Hubbard each drove in a run. Ethan Blanton blasted a triple and an RBI, and Justin Roberts, Matt Montgomery also contributed hits for the Tigers.
The Red Bay varsity will play Phil Campbell Monday at 4:30 p.m., and the JV will be return to action March 29 for the county tournament at Belgreen.