PINE BLUFF — During their run in the 15-year-old Babe Ruth State Tournament, the Bryant All-Stars avenged one of their losses suffered in their District Tournament when they beat White Hall, the eventual District champs. But when they ran up against the other team that derailed their District championship hopes, Pine Bluff Seabrook, things didn’t go quite as well.
In the winners bracket final of the State tourney, Pine Bluff eked out a 3-1 win that forced Bryant to turn around and play again on Wednesday, July 22. And, in that subsequent elimination game against Camden, Bryant was locked in a 3-3 tie until Camden struck for two runs in the bottom of the sixth, leaving Bryant one inning to try to counter. Camden held on for the win as Bryant finished third in the State.
Bryant 15-year-olds, coached by Wayne Taylor, include Seth Alkire, Jared Archer, Dylan Cross, Ozzie Hurt, Tyler Jamison, Luke McConnell, Quinton Motto, Trevor Paige, Josh Pultro, Alex Rowlan, Stoney Stephens, Jordan Taylor and Matthew Welch.[more]
Camden 5, Bryant 3
After Bryant stranded runners at second in the third in the top of the sixth, Camden scored two in the home half which held up for the win.
Brandon Watson singled, William Dever sacrificed and, after Conner Mosley bounced out to first, Andrew Simpson singled to load the to snap the tie. Tyler Brummett singled and when Logan Peterson beat out an infield hit Simpson scored to make it 5-3.
In the seventh, Pultro was hit by a pitch with two down but Bryant was unable to take advantage.
Bryant had taken a 3-0 lead in the third when Jamison led off with a double and Taylor singled up the middle to bring him home. Cross walked and, after a pitching change so did Alkire. Motto’s single to right brought home two to make it 3-0. Alkire was thrown out trying to get to third but, moments later, Motto raced to third on an errant pickoff throw. A squeeze bunt attempt with Pultro getting the bunt down, didn’t pan out when Peterson, the Camden pitcher charged in and got a throw to the plate in time to retire Motto.
Buoyed by that play, Camden put together an answering three-run inning to tie it, taking advantage of a pair of Bryant errors to get the first two runs home. With two down, a single and a hit batsman put runners at first and second. Both moved up on a wild pitch and the runs scored when a bouncer to short was bobbled. A throw to first was too late to get the batter but a relay to third retired the trail runner but not before the run scored to tie it.
Alkire worked a 1-2-3 fourth and pitched around a pair of singles in the fifth but just couldn’t get the third out in the sixth.
Bryant threatened in the fifth when Alkire walked with one out but was forced out on a grounder by Motto. Pultro walked and Motto stole third but a pop out ended the inning.
In the sixth, Welch was hit by a pitch with one out and Stevens, in to run for him, got to second on a single by Jamison. A passed ball put runners at second and third but a strikeout and a groundout ended the inning.
Pine Bluff 3, Bryant 1
Torey Deshazier, Nic Anderson and Wyatt Jones combined to shackle Bryant on four hits making a three-run third hold up for Pine Bluff.
Deshazier set down the first seven Bryant batters before Alkire singled up the middle with one down in the third. But he was picked off. Archer followed with a single and, after Jamison cracked a base hit to right-center and stole second, Bryant had two runners in scoring position but a strikeout ended the threat.
Taylor, starting for Bryant, pitched around a lead-off double in the first and, after giving up a single in the second, picked off the runner after he was sacrificed to second.
In the bottom of the third, R.J. McGregor singled to lead off for Pine Bluff. Taylor struck out Rickey Hawkins but Justin Dardenne singled and Deshazier walked to load the bases. A run scored on a groundout then Chris McVay came through with a two-run single to right-center to make it 3-0.
Bryant answered in the top of the fourth. Cross walked, took second on a passed ball, was bunted to third by Motto and scored when Pultro reached on an error.
Taylor finished up by retiring 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.
Bryant made some noise in the top of the sixth when Taylor walked and Cross was hit by a pitch but the next two batters bounced into force outs at third to end the threat. In the seventh, Jones set them down 1-2-3 to end it.
mike langley
Wyatt Jones pitched the seventh inning for Pine Bluff Seabrook. I am an assistant coach for Seabrook and have been checking your website because of your coverage of the district and state tournaments. While our local paper has covered the state tournament, we couldn’t get any coverage of district. Keep up the good work covering youth sports!!