All 12 members of McComb’s 10-year-old All-Star team calmly met near third base in front of their dugout.
There was no dogpile, no jumping and no screaming. The group resembled a casual business meeting as they congratulated each other, not a bunch of youngsters who just won the District 6 Tournament.
That’s not to say they weren’t excited, rather it was just another chapter in their quest for a state title.
McComb cruised past Franklin County, 6-1, on Tuesday night, to sweep FC and clinch the district title. McComb now advances to Saturday’s state tournament in Kosciusko against Columbia at 10 a.m. Most of the current members were a part of McComb’s 9-year-old team that lost in the state finals to Columbia. So the district title was simply adding to a laundry list of accomplishments.
“They are used to going to that next level of play. I guess that’s why they didn’t,” McComb manager Pender Johnson said. “They are ready to go. That was their goal to ultimately get there, so they are ready to get there and play.”
McComb got its celebration in after the trophy presentation, but it was all business before that.
A night after a 20-3 victory at Franklin County, McComb did something it hadn’t done the entire tournament — grab an early lead.
Aaron Artigues ripped a two-out triple to start a small rally in the bottom half of the first. Braxton Cooksey then singled home Artigues with a scorcher up the middle. After Brandon Chapman walked, Brady Johnson smacked a two-run double to right field to give McComb a 3-0 lead.
That was all McComb needed as Johnson and Artigues combined on a four-hitter. Johnson pitched four strong innings with two hits and four strikeouts. Artigues pitched the final two innings and allowed the only run in the sixth inning on an RBI single from Colton Brumfield.
“Our pitching has been solid. If we can get the bats going the whole game, I like those odds,” Pender Johnson said. “We have a good team. They play hard and don’t get themselves down.”
Chapman provided McComb with another spark in the third when he cranked an opposite field, two-run bomb to right field. Artigues, Cooksey and Brady Johnson all finished with two hits for McComb, which recorded eight total hits.
In the field, Preston Alexander highlighted the defense with nine putouts.
“Defensively, we did a good job tonight,” Pender Johnson said. “Preston ... got half our outs. He did a great job.”
