Region’s continues winning streak in Dixie Youth action

By SHELIA MADER
Published: April 23, 2008

Region’s continued their dominance Monday night at Optimist Park as they handed People’s First a 19-9 loss in Dixie Youth AAA action.

Lawrence Glover started on the mound for People’s First and was relieved by Will Nance in the first with one out. Garrison Melzer took over in the bottom of the second with one out before giving way to Steven Spence to close out the game.

Cade Bonds reached in the first inning for Regions on an error at third before Dustin York drew a walk. Jake Daffin singled to score one run and Trent Charles added a double to score two. With one out, Andrew Shouse singled followed by walks to Quaid VanHuss, Micheal Young, Jake Sims and Joshua Delgado. A strike out ended the inning with the bases loaded, but not before Regions had plated six runs.

Jake Daffin took the mound for Regions throwing the complete game. People’s First answered in the bottom of the inning with three run son two hits and two walks. Lawrence Glover got things started with a leadoff single and moved to second on a walk to Seth Gilmore. Both advanced a base on a passed ball before Garrison Melzer’s single scored two. With one out Kiley Bryan drew a walk to put runners at first and second but back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning with Regions leading 6-3.

Region’s exploded in the second inning for 13 runs. Zeke Hardy took one for the team to start things off and moved to second on a single by Bonds. With one out, walks to Daffin and Charles loaded the bases. Following a strikeout, Andrew Shouse picked up an RBI when he was hit by a pitch. Van Huss followed suit when he took one for the team, giving him an RBI. Sims singled but nine walks followed to score the bulk of the Regions’ runs.

People’s First fell short in the rally in the bottom of the inning, needing 16 runs and plating only six. Tyler McAllister walked and moved to second when Max Martinez was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Glover took it a pitch the hip to load the bases. Gilmore walked to score one run and Nance singled to score two. Spence reached on an error at third that scored the final runs of the game.

In Dixie Boys action, Chattahoochee proved to be too much offense for Barnes Tire as the visiting team handed Barnes a 15-5 loss.

Starting on the mound for Barnes was Shayne Blanton who went 4 1/3 innings before giving way to Ryan Riley. Riley completed the fifth inning with Zack Johnson coming on in the sixth. Johnson gave way to Brandon Burch for his 2008 season debut on the mound.

In the top of the first inning, Zay Atwater walked and scored on a single by Taylor Wood. Blanton got out of the inning with no further damage. Barnes was retired in order in their half of the frame.

In the top of the second, Blanton struck out the first batter before issuing a walk. With a strikeout to the number seven hitter, the runner was thrown out trying to take third to end the inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Kaidd Golden singled with one out and moved to third on a single by Kyle Griffin. Griffin was out at second and a strikeout ended the inning with no runs crossing the plate.

Chattahoochee picked up three runs in the third inning on a walk and three hits. Ryan Riley had a two-out single for the only offense in the bottom of the inning.

A one-out walk was the only offense Blanton allowed of Chattahoochee in the top of the fourth inning.

Barnes picked up their first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Chris Godwin took it on the arm literally and advanced to second on a passed ball. With one out, Golden singled for the second time scoring Godwin. The next two batters went down on strikes to end the inning.

Chattahoochee plated four runs in the fifth inning off of two hits, two walks and one costly error. Barnes answered with one run in their half of the frame. With one out, Jay Phelps drew a walk and moved to second on a walk to Riley. A walk to Brandon Burch loaded the bases for Godwin’s sacrifice fly to centerfield. A strikeout ended the inning.

Chattahoochee continued their offensive showing in the sixth inning with six hits including a monster home run by John Locke, three walks and one error.
In Burch’s debut, he struck out two of the seven batters he faced, gave up two hits and had one error committed behind him.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Barnes Tire rallied for three runs. With one out, Griffin doubled and moved to third on a passed ball. Walks to Jeremy Watson and Phelps loaded the bases for Riley’s base clearing triple. A ground out ended the inning.

Barnes will get set to take on Grand Ridge on Thursday night with a 7 p.m. start time. Earlier action will pit Rahal-Miller against Chipley at 5:30.

Last but not least in Dixie Youth AA action, it was the Yankees falling short in their contest with the Angels. The Angels took a 17-4 victory over the young Yankees.

Offensively for the Yankees it was Austin Livingston and Tyrus Dudley making it a round tripper for their team while Dalton Smith added a triple and Lane Gullett was on the bases with a single.

The Angels used the long ball to pick up their runs, with five on the night. Blake Donaldson led the charge going 3-for-3 with two homeruns and a single, followed by Devin Tindall and Bryce Martin who were both 3-for-3 each with a homerun. Hunter Mitchell and Wesley Rogers were both 3-for-3, followed by Callen Bozeman who was 2-for-3 with a homer. Mason Young and Sydnee Goodson both had singles on the evening.

Action was scheduled to continue at Optimist Park on Tuesday. Results of those games were not available at press time.