Photos courtesy of Crissy McEntire
By Madison McEntire
HAMBURG — The July weather was unusually cool and so were the Bryant bats but they found a way to scratch out a single run in five different innings and beat Little Rock 5-1 in the finals of the Babe Ruth State Tournament in Hamburg on Wednesday. Logan Grant held Little Rock to four hits and, at one point, retired 16 consecutive batters as he defeated the Little Rock team for the second time in four days, allowing just one run in 13 innings in the two matchups.
Next up for Bryant is the 13-year-old Babe Ruth Southwest Regional in Eagle Pass, Texas, beginning Friday, July 25. The regional winner will advance to the World Series in Glen Allen, Va., beginning Aug. 16.
Team members are Logan Grant, Cade Dupree, Jacob Coppock, Logan Chambers, Logan Catton, Will McEntire, Jacob Shepard, Ryan Lessenberry, Brock Bariola, Coby Greiner, Sawyer Holt, and Hunter Mullings. They are managed by Michael Catton with help from Phillip Dupree and Madison McEntire.
Bryant batted first. Coppock popped to second and Shepard bounced back to the mound. After Chambers walked, Grant flied to left to end the inning. It was the first time in the tournament that Bryant had failed to score in its first at-bat.
After a pop fly to Catton at second and a foul pop to Dupree at first, Grant allowed a double to deep left-center and a liner to right-center that went for a single to make the score 1-0, Bryant’s first deficit of the tournament. A grounder to second ended the first.
Dupree walked to lead off the second. Mullings bounced a ball that the pitcher fielded and fired to second to try to force the lead runner but the throw went off his teammate’s glove and into center field, allowing Dupree to go to third. After Mullings stole second, Greiner fell behind 0-2 but then pushed a grounder to second to score Dupree and move Mullings up. Catton smashed a hard grounder back to the mound for a 1-3 putout that forced Mullings to hold at third. Bariola appeared to foul off a 1-2 inside pitch but the umpires ruled that the ball went off his wrist instead of the bat and called him out on strikes for the third out.
The first Little Rock batter of the second chopped a ball that rolled just in front of the plate where Coppock picked it up and threw to first for the out. Grant then issued a walk on a full-count pitch before getting foul pops to the catcher and first baseman to end the inning.
Coppock led off the third with a double to right-center on a 3-2 pitch. After Shepard fanned, Coppock went to third on a wild pitch. Chambers lined hard to the shortstop but Grant came thru with a big two-out hit, a single up the middle that the second baseman knocked down but had no play on as Coppock scored. Grant got into scoring position with a steal but was left there when Dupree grounded out to second.
Starting in the third, Grant hurled four consecutive 1-2-3 innings, getting nine outs in the infield, a fly ball to Shepard in center and two strikeouts.
Bryant tacked on another run in the fourth. After Mullings flied to left on a 3-2 pitch, Greiner singled on a liner to right-center and slid headfirst into second when the Little Rock center fielder mishandled the ball for an error. Catton’s grounder to the shortstop moved Greiner to third and, after Bariola walked, a balk with a 2-2 count on Coppock scored Greiner and moved Bariola to second. Coppock lined to center to end the inning but Bryant was up 3-1.
Shepard popped foul to start Bryant’s half of the fifth. Chambers ripped a hard line drive that hooked into the corner where the Little Rock left fielder ran it down but dropped it for an error. After Chambers went to third on a wild pitch, Grant lined hard to the right fielder for a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-1. Dupree then singled to center and advanced to third on two wild pitches as Mullings walked, but Greiner lined to center to end the inning.
Bryant went in order in the sixth. Catton grounded to third. Holt, who had entered in the fourth for Bariola, flied to left and Coppock popped up to the shortstop.
Shepard led off with a swinging strikeout to start Bryant’s last at-bat. Chambers then lined a single to left and went to second on a wild pitch. Grant grounded to third and was safe when the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, with Chambers moving to third on the play. After Grant stole second, Dupree hit a grounder to the shortstop for an out but Chambers scored on the play and Grant moved to third. Mullings ended the inning with a foul pop to the first baseman who made a nice sliding catch near the Bryant dugout.
Grant started the bottom of the seventh with his third strikeout of the game and then retired his 16th straight batter with a soft pop back to the mound. On a 1-2 pitch, he appeared to have the third out on a grounder to Greiner at third but the ball took a bad hop into left for a single. After a ground ball single up the middle by Little Rock’s five-hole hitter, Grant got a ground ball to Greiner at third who forced the runner at second to end the game.
