Marianna AAA All-Stars fall to Chipley

By Dustin Kent

Published: June 21, 2008

The Marianna AAA All-Stars fell just short reaching their dream Thursday night in Chipley, losing a heartbreaker 9-8 in the district title game to Chipley.

A 4-1 victory over Chipley in the first game of the day kept Marianna alive for a do-or-die final game with a berth in the state tournament on the line.

The game was a back-and-forth affair, with Marianna rallying from deficits to tie the game twice before it entered the bottom of the sixth and final inning trailing 9-7.

Marianna’s Garrison Melzer came up with a one-out walk and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Jake Daffin to trim the deficit to a run.

Austin Torbett, who also walked in the inning, moved to third base on the play, bringing Trent Charles to bat with two outs Torbett as the tying run.

However, a 1-2 pitch to Charles got by the catcher and Torbett tried to take home but was thrown out at the plate to end the game.

It’s a difficult way to lose a game, particularly so when it’s a game that ends your season.

“It’s tough,” Marianna coach Steven Charles said Friday. “I hate it for the kids. (When giving out medals to the players after the game) I had to stop because I couldn’t control my emotions.”

Still, it was a fine effort by the All-Stars, who actually outscored Chipley in its three meetings in the tournament and rallied out of the loser’s bracket to advance to the title round with a 10-0 win over Paxton Wednesday.

“Any time can come out of loser’s bracket and get to championship game, it says a lot about our kids,” Charles said. “I thought we were the best team in the tournament, talent-wise.”

Marianna lost its first meeting of the tournament with Chipley 10-9, in which Chipley rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, before its 4-1 win in Thursday’s first game.

The All-Stars would have to climb out of an early hole in the final game after giving up four runs in the top of the first inning on only one hit.

Marianna rallied back to tie the game at 5-5 with four runs in the bottom of the second.

Chipley took the lead again with two runs but were answered with two from Marianna to tie the game 7-7 going into the sixth inning.

Chipley added two more to take a 9-7 lead in the top of the sixth, giving them just enough cushion for the win.

“It was up and down both ways,” Charles said, “but we gave them all they could stand.”

Hunter Eddins went 2-for-3 with three RBI for Marianna, while Melzer added two hits and Daffin had a hit and an RBI.