Bryant 12’s capture District title

WHITE HALL — Bryant’s Cameron McDonald belted a grand slam and Aiden Adams cracked a two-run jack to highlight a nine-run second inning the blew up the winner-take-all final at the 12-year-old Little Rock District Tournament on Wednesday night.

The result was a 12-2 victory for the Bryant All-Stars over the Pine Bluff Western All-Stars. Bryant will advance as the top seed from the District to the State Tournament starting July 17 at Piggott.

The Bryant team, managed by Greg Riggs with assistance from Scott Allison and Matt Orender, includes Adams, Kannon Allison, Tyler Bates, Austin Ledbetter, Hunter Littleton, Conner Martin, McDonald, Justin Orender, Hart Penfield, Ryan Riggs, Blaine Sears, Brandon Thomisee and Joshua Turner.

Pine Bluff had forced the “if” game in the tournament with an 11-1 win in the first championship round game. Bryant had gained the upper hand earlier with a 6-3 win over Western, which battled back to gain the final showdown.

And Pine Bluff, off the momentum of the 11-1 win, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the finale. But Turner, Bryant’s starting pitcher, settled in after that and worked into the fourth and final inning of the run-rule victory. He forced Pine Bluff to strand a runner in the first and two in the third.

In the fourth, a hit by Carlie King led things off for Pine Bluff then Turner fanned the next two, giving him nine for the game. But a walk to Josh Bridges followed and Penfield came on in relief with the top of the Pine Bluff order coming up. But he fanned lead-off man Jaxson Anderson to end the threat.

The game-breaking second began with singles from Riggs and Orender. Allison walked to load the bases. Sears got Riggs home but Orender was out trying to score. A base hit for Martin filled the sacks for McDonald who clubbed an 0-1 delivery for his slam.

Turner singled then, with two down, Adams unloaded to make it 7-2. Walks to Riggs, Orender and Bates kept the inning going. Singles by Littleton and Martin knocked in the eighth and ninth runs.

In the third, McDonald led off with a double and Turner tripled to make it 10-2.

Bryant made it a run-rule win in the bottom of the fourth. Riggs walked and scored on a shot down the right-field line by Thomisee. Allison walked and eventually made it to third, scoring on a passed ball to end the game.