After coming up one run short against Jena in their first game of the five-team, Dixie Youth District 8 boys All-Star tournament played in Many, the Jackson Parish 11U boys All-Stars were faced with a do-or-die situation.
The locals kept the dream alive by outlasting 8-7 South Sabine in the losers bracket on Saturday, setting them up for a winner-to-state contest on Monday against Alexandria, who had also beaten South Sabine but lost to Jena. NO PROBLEM!
JP11U 16 Alexandria 1: Not to be denied, JP11U broke out the “big sticks” and exploded for seven runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to a commanding lead 7-0 lead and then scored eight more in the final frame to win going away.
Noah Spillman got the offensive onslaught started with a single and then stole second base. Cason Rogers reached on catchers interference and Colten Otwell drew a walk loading the bases. That set the stage for cleanup batter Jake Moak to do just that as his triple to right field cleared the bases and gave JP11U a quick 3-0 lead with no one out. Lucas Bandy drew a one out walk and then stole second before Conner Thompson and Ryan Sandifer each hit doubles followed by a Henry Underwood single that put the finishing touches on the best run scoring inning of the tournament for the locals.
That is until four inning later.
After Waylon Stroud walked and Thompson cracked a triple, his second extra base hit of the game top give JP11U an 8-1 lead, the locals poured it on to double up the score the next frame.
The “great eight” inning started with Andrew Brown, Spillman, Rogers and Moak all drawing walks. Back to back singles by Raylon Bradford and Bandy followed by another walk to Stroud pushed the lead to 12-1 with the base still juiced. Thompson got his third hit of the day to drive in two and Sandifer smashed a triple, his second extra base knock, to plate the final two runs.
Not only did JP11U pound out 11 hits against four Alexandria pitchers they also stole 11 bases with Bandy, Moak, Sandifer, and Spillman swiping two apiece and Bradford, Stroud, and Rogers taking one each.
The 16 runs were four more than the team scored in the first two games combined but in reality all that was needed was two. That is because Moak was virtually untouchable on the mound, limiting Alexandria to three meaningless singles and one earned run in five innings, striking out seven along the way.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Jackson Parish | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 16 | 11 | 1 |
| Alexandria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
2B – Thompson, Sandifer
3B – Thompson, Moak, Sandifer
RBI – Thompson 4, Moak 3, Sandifer 3, Bradford, Bandy, Underwood
Runs – Spillman 2, Rogers 2, Moak 2, Bandy 2, Stroud 2, Thompson 2, Otwell, Bradford, Sandifer, Brown
Steals – Bandy 2, Moak 2, Sandifer 2, Spillman 2, Bradford, Stroud, Rogers
Jena 14 JP11U 13: To win district JP11U was faced with beating Jena twice and they came oh so close to forcing a second game. Down by one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, after Jena had broken a 13-13 tie with a steal of home in the top half, Henry Underwood and Jake Emmons hit back-to-back singles to open the inning. Cason Rogers drew a two-out walk but Jena escaped by getting the final out, leaving the three runners on base.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of our guys,” said head coach Steven Moak. “Sure, we wanted to win district, but most importantly we wanted to make it to the state tournament which we did.”
The game was a classic battle between two heavyweight offenses. In their first at-bat, Jena broke out on top with a 3-0 lead. Jackson Parish responded by putting up 5 before they made their first out and 7 in the frame. Walks to Spillman and Rogers was followed by a double by Otwell and four straight singles by Moak, Bradford, Bandy, and Stroud. Thompson drew a walk and the Sandifer doubled to centerfield setting up an Underwood groundout for the seventh run.
Jena came right back to score two in the second and four more in the third inning to take a 9-7 lead. Singles by Moak and Bandy that sandwiched at Bradford triple in the bottom half knotted things up again at nine each. Once again Jena took the lead scoring four in the top of the fourth and once again JP11U responded when Spillman doubled in Sandifer who had singled to shave one run off the lead in the bottom of the inning. JP11U came all the way back to tie it up at 13 in the bottom of the fifth when Moak and Bradford coaxed walks, Bandy singled, Stroud drew another walk and Thompson singled.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| Jena | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 12 | 0 |
| JP11U | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 16 | 0 |
2B – Spillman 2, Sandifer
3B – Bradford