KENANSVILLE – Whiteville Optimist slugged 4 home runs and held off Elizabethtown 9-7 Saturday in the opening round of the North Carolina Dixie Youth Baseball State Tournament.
Elizabethtown will face the loser of Sampson County American and Shallotte in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Garrett Melvin blasted a lead-off home run over the rightfield fence to start the Elizabethtown first inning. All four of the Whiteville homers came during a 7-run second-inning rally.
Coleman Tatum walloped a home run over the rightfield fence to begin the Elizabethtown third inning and close the gap to 7-2. Whiteville answered with a run in the bottom of the third to up the count to 8-2.
Elizabethtown battled back with 5 runs in the fourth inning. Evan Pait belted a single to ignite the rally, and Freddy Wooten cracked a single. Raymond Autry knocked in Pait with a single.
Ty Mathis hammered a double that scored Wooten, and Tyler Hill’s sacrifice brought in Autry. Garrison Tatum clobbered a 2-run homer over the leftfield fence that scored Mathis and sliced the Whiteville lead to 8-7.
Whiteville tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth.
Elizabethtown outhit Whiteville 11-9. Coleman Tatum batted a perfect 2-2 with a solo home run. Pait and Wooten both finished 2-3 at the plate and scored one run each. Garrison Tatum slugged the 2-run homer.
Melvin pounded the solo home run. Mathis slammed a double, drove in a run and scored a run. Autry and Ayden Piland added a single each. Autry and Hill drove in runs, and Autry scored a run.
Autry started on the mound and pitched into the second inning. Wooten relieved him and finished out the second and the game. Wooten struck out 6 in his 4 innings of work.
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