Zach Meares pitched a complete-game 4-hitter and struck out 13 batters to lead the Cubs to a 9-4 victory over the White Sox in the Elizabethtown Dixie Youth Baseball Major League Tournament Championship Friday night.
The White Sox jumped on top 2-0 in the top of the first inning. Ethan Johnson drew a lead-off walk and scooted home when Brady Hollingsworth hammered a double to right-centerfield. Garrett Melvin blasted a triple over the centerfielder’s head that drove in Hollingsworth.
Chase Starkloff lined a single to left in the bottom of the inning and came around to score on a passed ball and two wild pitches to slice the lead to 2-1.
The game settled into a pitchers duel between Meares and White Sox starter Jacob Priest until the home half of the fourth. A pair of walks put two Cubs on base in the third, but shortstop Melvin snared a grounder up the middle, stepped on second and made a leaping throw to first to complete the double play.
Drew Sholar was hit by a pitch to begin the Cubs half of the fourth, and Luke Norton beat out a bunt single. Sholar sprinted home on a wild pitch, and Ahmad Powell belted a single to right field that scored Norton with the go-ahead run.
Lane Ross drew a 2-out walk then stole second base. Powell stole home on the back end of the double steal to stretch the Cubs lead to 4-2.
Starkloff walked to start the Cubs fifth and advanced on a wild pitch. Meares poked a single to right that drove in Starkloff. Sholar walked, and Norton legged out another bunt single.
Jackson Bostic laced a 2-run single to left that scored Meares and Sholar, and Zach Williams smashed a 2-run triple over the left-fielder’s head that drove in Norton and Bostic and stretched the Cubs’ lead to 9-2.
Colin Hill led off the White Sox sixth with a walk and raced home when Priest walloped a triple into the right-field corner. An error at the end of the play allowed Priest to score the game’s final run.
Norton finished 2-2 with the bunt singles to lead the winners at the plate. Williams crushed the 2-run triple, Bostic cracked the 2-run single, Powell and Meares drove in runs with singles, and Starkloff added a single.
Priest pitched 3.2 innings for the White Sox and allowed 2 hits and 3 walks, while striking out seven. Hollingsworth struck out four in his 1.1 innings on the hill.
Priest and Melvin blasted run-scoring triples, and Hollingsworth and Victor Campbell slammed doubles for the White Sox. Hollingsworth also drove in a run.
Members of Coach Ashley Harrelson’s Tournament and Regular-Season Champion Cubs are: Chase Starkloff, Zach Meares, Drew Sholar, Luke Norton, Jackson Bostic, Zach Williams, Ahmad Powell, Lane Ross, Blake Allen and Stephen Allen.
Members of Coach Barry Priest’s Tournament and Regular-Season Runners-up are: Ethan Johnson, Brady Hollingsworth, Jacob Priest, Garrett Melvin, Jayson Baxter, Victor Campbell, Allen Owens, Jay’Quan McNair, Colin Hill, Gabriel Reaves and Wa’Keem Graham.
Share this article using the shortlink: https://bladencounty.org/?p=16402
About Author
