Dixie Youth suffers first loss of state tournament
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Special to The Messenger
Everything went wrong for the Troy Dixie Youth All-Stars Wednesday night in the state tournament in Duncanville.
Troy, the tournament's lone undefeated team, needed only a win to advance to the state championship game today at 11 a.m. Instead, Hartselle defeated Troy 8-3 and forced a three-way log jam in the tournament.
Since Troy and Prattville, who defeated Duncanville-Moundville 3-2 Wednesday, already had a bye in the tournament, Troy will now face Prattville at 11 a.m. The winner of that game will face Hartselle in the championship game at 6 p.m.
Troy managed only four hits in the game. Those came off the bats of Jake Smith, Dario Rouse, Trey Walters and Donta Harris.
Troy also left 10 runners on base, and twice left the bases loaded at the end of an inning.
Hartselle, meanwhile, pounded out eight runs on eight hits. Troy's defense helped Hartselle as well, committing three errors.
Hartselle jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Troy managed to scrape together any runs.
Troy finally got on the board in the fourth inning. William Teal reached on a fielder's choice, Smith singled, Bradley Floyd walked and Ethan Harris knocked in a run while reaching on an error. Rouse then singled to cut the lead to 6-2.
Troy added its final run in the sixth inning when Donta Harris walked and came around to score.
Hartselle scored the game's first run in the first inning and added five more in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead.
Hartselle put some insurance runs on the board in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
David Reeves got the win for Hartselle.