The first meeting apparently wasn’t enough for either head coach.
The McComb National League All-Stars remained undefeated in the McComb Dixie Youth Baseball 8-year-olds Subdistrict 6 Tournament with an 11-6 victory over the McComb American League All-Stars on Thursday night at Edgewood Park.
McComb National broke a 2-2 tie with a decisive four-run second inning, then added four more runs in the third to build a 10-2 advantage.
Jacoby Smith’s two-run home run to left-center field capped the decisive third inning in which McComb National batters hit for the cycle.
Already leading 6-2, McComb National’s third inning opened with Darren Tobias’ line-drive triple to right-center field. He scored on Sam Etheridge’s bad-hop single past second base and into right field.
After Brady Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice that retired Tobias at second, Hayes Tisdale roped a double to right that plated Johnson for an 8-2 advantage.
Smith then drilled a delivery from his assistant coach over the left-center field fence to extend the lead to 10-2.
Despite McComb National’s 11-run outburst, head coach Tab Watts said he still wasn’t satisfied with his team’s offensive performance.
“We’re still struggling with the bats,” Watts said. “We’ve got a couple still struggling.”
The game left both head coaches hoping for a potential second meeting between the two teams on Saturday. That would happen if McComb American beats Magnolia in an elimination game tonight.
“I’d like to play them again. They’re a really good team,” McComb American coach Charles Dowdy said. Watts said a second meeting would be the perfect time for his team to put in a complete effort.
“When the batting and fielding come together,” he said, “we’ll be really doing something — like hopefully winning the subdistrict tournament.”
McComb American jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Braxton Cooksey legged out an infield single to third and advanced to second on an infield throwing error. He scored on Preston Alexander’s single to center.
McComb National’s defense helped prevent further damage when Smith threw a strike from right-center field to shortstop Tisdale, who tagged Alexander trying to stretch his hit into a double.
The defense again took center stage after a Wilkins Dowdy single, when second baseman Ben Myrick fielded Garrett Noll’s grounder, tagged Dowdy and tossed to first baseman Johnson to complete the double play.
McComb National grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning. Keverrion Robinson reached on a fielding error and took second on Brandon Chapman’s sharp single to left. After a throwing error moved the runners to second and third, Robinson scored on Myrick’s infield single to tie the game. Chapman scored the go-ahead run on Tobias’ infield groundout.
McComb American tied the game at 2-2 in the second inning on Aaron Artigues’ one-out single and consecutive singles by Jacks Dowdy and Brady Cooksey.
That deadlock, however, did not last long. McComb National tallied four runs in the second inning to build a 6-2 cushion.
After Tisdale and Smith reached on consecutive infield errors, Watts grounded into a fielder’s choice that retired Tisdale at third base.
With two out, Mitch Reeves lashed a double to deep left-center that scored Smith to put McComb National ahead 3-2. Watts also scored when a throw home in an attempt to get Smith sailed over the catcher’s head to make it 4-2.
Robinson followed with his own double to right field. Reeves scored on another McComb American throwing error to push the lead to 5-2.
Chapman followed with a grounder that was misplayed for yet another error, allowing Robinson to score for a 6-2 advantage.
That’s when McComb National broke open the game and left McComb American playing catchup.
Trailing 10-2, McComb American plated a run in the fourth when Artigues singled with one out, advanced to second on a throwing error and scored on Brady Cooksey’s line-drive single to left that made it 10-3.
McComb National, however, answered in the bottom of the fourth when Myrick reached on a fielding error with two outs and scored on Tobias’ double to deep right field.
McComb American capped the game’s scoring with three fifth-inning runs.
Braxton Cooksey reached on a fielder’s choice and, with two out, advanced to second when Alexander’s infield pop fly was dropped for an error. Both runners came home on Wilkins Dowdy’s double to the right-center field gap to make it 11-5. Dowdy scored the game’s final run on Noll’s two-out single to center.
“This was what we were expecting,” Tab Watts said of the game. “(McComb American) is a good team. They hit the ball good and field the ball good. The second game should be a good one.”
