Three up. Three down. It is what a coach likes to see when his pitcher is on the mound. It meant even more to head coach Nick Tolar when it represented the number of teams his 11U All Star team played and beat at the Dixie Youth District 8 Tournament held in Many. By virtue of the “tri-fecta,” JP11U brings home the district championship and qualifies for the state tournament that will be held in July in Monroe.
JP11U opened the tourney by slipping past home standing Sabine Parish by a 7-6 score. In the second contest the locals beat Buckeye 4-1 setting up a rematch with Sabine that went much like the first including JP11U winning by one run, this time by an 8-7 margin.
Jackson Parish 7 Sabine Parish 6: Bryce Tolar and Hayden Seymore both got two hits, scored a run and knocked another in to help Jackson Parish early on. It was hits by Asher Rhodes and Kolt Keiffer, coupled with a walk to Rylan Mauthe, Aiden Rhodes getting hit by a pitch and Eli Henderson reaching base on what was ruled as a fielders choice despite no one getting out that plated two runs and proved to be the difference in extra innings to win it.
Sngles by Tolar, Seymore and Dawson Griffin gave JP11U a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth but Sabine scored three in their half of the inning to retake the lead. The locals came right back in the top of the fifth with three of their own thanks to walks to Aiden Rhodes and Henderson and an error off the bat of Braydon Robinson, who later scored on Tolar’s scond hit of the game.
Sabine tied it in the bottom of the sixth but hayden Seymore buckled down to end the inning with the bases loaded. The “home-standers” looked poised to tie it up again in the bottom of the seventh by scoring a run and having another on third with two outs but that is where Leyton Younse left him by striking out the final batter. Of special note Jackson Parish swiped 12 bases in the game.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Jackson Parish | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 2 |
| Sabine Parish | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 4 |
RS – Tolar, Seymore, Asher Rhodes, Mauthe, Aiden Rhodes, Henderson, Robinson,
RBI – Tolar, Seymore, Griffin, Aiden Rhodes, henderson
SB – Griffin 2,Tolar 2, Seymore 2, Aiden Rhodes 2, Henderson, Norton, Robinson, Asher Rhodes
Jackson Parish 4 Buckeye 1: Tucker Goss, Leyton Younse and Hayden Seymore limited Buckeye to just two hits and one first inning run and JP11U scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the victory. JP11U manufactured the tying run in the third when Braydon Robinson and River Norton coaxed walks and that led to Robinson scoring after Tolar bunted him to third and Seymore hit a grounder to first.
In the bottom of the fifth Aiden Rhodes and Bryce Tolar walked before Seymore singled to give JP11U a one run lead. Dawson Griffin followed with his second hit of the game to load the bases before Goss coaxed a walk to force Tolar and Eli Hendersonhit a grounder to third that plated Seymore.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Buckeye | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Jackson Parish | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
2B – Keiffer
RBI – Seymore 2, Goss, Henderson
RS – Tolar, Seymore. Aiden Rhodes, Robnison
SB – Goss
Jackson Parish 8 Sabine 7: it was de ja vu all over again in the championship game as ust like in the first game between the two, Jackson Parish scored two runs in the top half of the final frame and left Sabine with the tying run in scoring position to end the game. This time around though the home-standers were there own worst enemy in the final frame as a misguided attempt to steal third got thwarted by catcher Eli Henderson just before a double was hit that would have scored the runner with the tying run..
JP11U went up 8-6 in the top of the sixth when Bryce Tolar hit a double for his third hit of the game and then scored when Dawson Griffijn reached first on a passed ball after striking out. Tucker Goss then reached base for the third time in the game and plated Griffin with a single.
Early on it looked like the locals would cake walk to the title as they broke out to a 5-0 lead after three at bats on runs by Griffin, Aiden and Asher Rhodes, Rylan Mauthe and Goss. SAbine would battle back to tie it at five each in the bottom of the third and both teams added a run in the fourth, JP11U getting theirs when Tolar singled, stole second and scored on back to back groundouts. Once again Jackson Parish ran wild on the bases stealing nine in this one which gave them 21 total in the two games against Sabine
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| Jackson Parish | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 2 |
| Sabine Parish | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
2B – Tolar
RBI – Tolar, Griffin, Goss, Henderson, Keiffer, Mauthe
RS – Tolar 2, Griffin 2, Goss, Asher Rhodes, Aiden Rhodes, Mauthe
SB – B Tolar 2, Aiden Rhodes 2, T Goss 2, E Henderson 2, Asher Rhodes
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