The McComb 12-year-old All-Stars couldn’t come through with the key hits and dropped a pair to Pascagoula in the best-of-three Dixie Youth Baseball Ozone Division state championship series Tuesday night in Greenville.
McComb saw its undefeated run to a state championship end in losses of 2-1 and 5-4.
But that wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of third-year team manager John Dale Dumas, who praised his players’ toughness throughout the tournament.
“This is a scrappy group,” Dumas said. “They all grew close during the tournament and they played with a lot of heart.
“This is the pinnacle of 12-year-olds Dixie Youth Baseball,” Dumas added. “So they enjoyed their time here and they didn’t leave anything on the field.”
After averaging nearly 10 hits in each of their first five games of the tournament, the McComb All-Stars were limited to three hits in the first game of the championship series.
McComb took a 1-0 lead in the second. With one out, Jack Dumas walked and took third on Brady Smet’s first of two singles in the contest. Jonathan Turner followed with a single to center to score Dumas.
Pascagoula tied the game in the top of the third on a solo home run.
Pascagoula looked to take the lead in the third with a runner on third and two out. A line drive to center field appeared to have done just that, but center fielder Marquell Carroll fielded the ball on a bounce and threw the runner out at first to end the frame.
“Defense was big for us throughout the tournament,” Dumas said. “Marquell made a great play when we needed one.”
In the fifth inning, Pascagoula got a single, stolen base and a single to center field to take a 2-1 lead.
Logan Yawn took the pitching loss for the McComb All-Stars. He worked two innings, gave up a run on two hits, walked one and struck out one.
Carr Young started on the mound for the McComb All-Stars and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit. He walked one and struck out two.
Smet also worked two innings, surrendering only the solo home run.
Despite collecting only three hits, McComb also got several walks from Pascagoula pitching, but stranded six baserunners, including the potential tying run on second base to end the game.
“We definitely missed some opportunities,” John Dale Dumas said. “We had opportunities to win both games. That’s all you can ask.”
In the second game, it appeared the McComb All-Stars would force a deciding third game tonight, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in Tuesday’s Game 2.
After Smet singled and Turner walked to open the second inning, Drake Flowers’ sacrifice fly moved the runners to second and third, respectively. Aaron McKay followed with a sharp single to right field that plated both runners for a 2-0 McComb lead.
The lead went to 3-0 in the third when Ty Forman reached on a fielder’s choice, went to second on a walk to Logan Yawn and came home on Young’s RBI single to right.
Pascagoula got a pair of singles in the bottom of the third to close the gap to 3-1.
The tide turned in the fourth, however, as Pascagoula plated four runs to take the lead for good.
After a pair of walks and a single off Smet, who relieved Young, cut the margin to 3-2, Dumas put in Yawn. He was greeted with a bloop RBI single to tie the game at 3.
A sacrifice fly to left field scored another run and gave Pascagoula a 4-3 advantage. The final run of the inning came home on a sacrifice fly to short left field to make it 5-3.
McComb hacked the deficit in half in the fifth inning on Carroll’s solo home run to make it 5-4.
The McComb All-Stars got a pair of singles to put runners on first and third with two out, but a strikeout ended the game and left the tying run at third. For the game McComb stranded 11 baserunners.
