RIEGELWOOD – Bladen County scored in every inning Friday night and defeated Elizabethtown 22-8 in the opening round of the Dixie Youth Baseball District 2 AA (Coach Pitch) Supplemental Tournament.
Bladen County will play the winner of the Whiteville/Riegelwood game Saturday at 3 p.m., while Elizabethtown will play the winner of South Columbus/Columbus County at 1:30 in the double-elimination event.
Reid Butler slammed a double, and Carter Valenta, Colton Thompson and Jensen Burney belted 2-out singles in the Bladen 1st inning. Julian Bryant reached base on an error, before Major Bostic slugged a home run to clean the bases. Butler, Valenta, Thompson, Burney, Bryant and Bostic all scored for a 6-0 lead.
Elizabethtown answered with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning. Holt Hall and Nate Lee cracked singles, and Dalton Davis reached base on an error. Eastyn Singletary hammered a triple, and Javion Graham smashed a double. Hall, Lee, Davis and Singletary all scored to trim the Bladen lead to 6-4.
Gus Bordeaux singled and Alex Meares walloped a home run in the 2nd inning to grow the Bladen lead to 8-4.
Burney, Bryant and Bostic swatted 2-out singles in the Bladen 3rd inning, and Grayson Babson drilled a double. Burney, Bryant, Bostic and Babson all scored as the lead grew to 12-4.
Singletary singled in the Elizabethtown 3rd inning and came around to score as Jase Walsh and Egypt Melvin delivered singles.
Meares and B.B. Christian singled to start the Bladen 4th inning, and Butler clubbed a home run to stretch the lead to 15-5.
Caysin Dorsett and Holt Hall laced singles in the Elizabethtown 4th inning, and Dorsett scored to slice the lead to 15-6.
Bostic, Babson, Bordeaux, Meares, Christian, Butler, Valenta and Thompson all smacked singles in Bladen County’s 5th inning, before Burney cleared the bases with a home run. However because of the 7 runs per inning limit, only Bostic, Babson, Bordeaux, Meares, Christian, Butler and Valenta’s runs counted in the inning.
Dalton Davis, Singletary, Walsh and Melvin slapped singles in the Elizabethtown 5th inning, and Davis and Singletary scored the final Elizabethtown runs.
Burney batted 4-for-4 and scored 2 runs to lead the Bladen hitters. Meares finished 3-for-3 with a home run and 3 runs scored. Bostic was also 3-for-3 with a homer and 3 runs scored. Butler batted 3-for-4 with a double and 3 runs scored. Christian finished 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored.
Thompson was also 3-for-4 with a run scored for Bladen. Babson batted 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored, and Bordeaux also finished 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored. Valenta batted 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, and Bryant had a hit and 2 runs scored.
Singletary batted 3-for-3 with a triple and 3 runs scored for Elizabethtown. Hall finished 3-for-3 with a run scored. Melvin batted 2-for-3, and Walsh also finished 2-for-3 at the plate. Graham and Conner Bryan clobbered doubles, and Lee, Davis and Dorsett added 1 hit each. Davis scored twice, and Lee and Dorsett scored runs.
Members of the Bladen County team (pictured at top) are:
Front Row (Left-Right): Reid Butler, Britton (BB) Christian, Major Bostic, Jackson Davis, Julian Bryant, Grayson Babson
Middle Row (L-R): Alex Meares, Augustus Bordeaux, Jensen Burney, Colton Thompson, Carter Valenta, Cadarius Ballard.
Back Row (L-R): Coaches Ryan Todd, Chris Turner, A. J. Bordeaux, Tim Benton
Bladen County 624 37 — 22
Elizabethtown 401 12 — 8
About Author
