Marianna All Stars Battle Hard In State Tournament

7/24/08
While they put up a valiant effort, both of the Marianna Dixie Youth All Star teams were eliminated Monday from the State Tournament being held at the MERE Complex. The Dixie Junior Boys won their opening round game on Saturday but then took losses on Sunday and Monday. The Dixie Boys squad dropped their opening round game but came back to pick up a win in game two on Monday morning. They fell however in their second game of the day played on Monday night.
The Dixie Jr. Boys (13 yr. olds) opened up with a 11-1 win in six innings over Okeechobee on Saturday. J.T. Meadows was the hero of the day as he went 4-4 with 4 RBI. Bradley Middleton went the distance on the mound for Marianna and picked up the win. Middleton also had two hits and an RBI to help his own cause and Mason Melvin went 2-3 on the day with 2 RBI. Marianna jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and then led 7-1 after two innings. They added four more runs over the next four innings to post the 10 run win.
On Sunday the Jr. Boys squared off against Poinciana (Kissimmee) and although Marianna posted 8 runs on offense, Poinciana countered with 18 runs to win by the 10 run rule in the sixth inning. After falling behind early 1-0 Marianna rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Middleton’s sacrifice fly scored Seth Singletary, Taylor Strauss scored on a past ball and Meadows scored on a RBI single by Melvin. Poinciana countered though in the top of the second with 7 runs to take a 7-3 lead. Singletary scored for Marianna in the bottom of the second on a wild pitch and Strauss and Meadows scored on a 2 RBI double by Melvin. Adam DeWitt singled to score Melvin and Marianna had tied the game at 7-7. From there though it was all Poinciana, as they outscored Marianna 11-1 over the last four innings.
Monday’s contest proved to be a heartbreaker as Marianna fell 10-9 to Hiland Park. Middleton singled to score Meadows early on to put Marianna up 1-0 but Hiland Park responded with 7 runs in the bottom of the inning. They plated another run in the third and fourth inning to make it a 9-1 game. In the fifth inning Marianna’s bats heated up as they got back in the game. They managed to come back and tie the game at 9-9 in the sixth inning when Meadows scored on a wild pitch. But Hiland Park managed to get the winning run on an error in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Dixie Boys (14 yr. olds) opened up on Saturday with a tough 6-0 loss to West Volusia. The game was scoreless through three innings but West Volusia took advantage of an error to plate 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Marianna had opportunities to score throughout the game but could not muster any runs across the plate and West Volusia added three more runs of the final two innings for the victory.
Marianna bounced back from that loss with a 11-6 win over Vernon on Monday morning. In a game that began in the noonday heat on Monday, it was a back and forth battle for the lead, with Vernon initially taking a 3-1 lead. Marianna tied the game in the third, went ahead in the fifth 6-3, to only have Vernon come charging back with a three run homer that tied the game 6-6. Finally, Marianna took a commanding lead 11-6 behind the relief pitching of Jae Elliot to finally capture the win.
That earned Marianna a chance for a second game on Monday, this one being against Okeechobee. Things started well as Marianna took advantage of several walks and timely hits to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Chris Godwin had a 2 RBI single and Jae Elliott had a RBI single to spark the inning. But Okeechobee caught fire as they plated 3 runs in the first, 2 in the second, 4 in the third and four in the fourth. Marianna managed a run in the fourth as a RBI single from Godwin scored Zac Davis to make it a 13-7 game after four innings. In the fifth inning Okeechobee plated 4 more runs to make the final 17-7.