Several area all star squads have been battling this past week in their respective state tournaments, some with more success than others. In Marianna three local teams competed in the Dixie Boys and Dixie Jr. Boys State Tournament at the MERE Complex. The Marianna Dixie Boys All Star team found the going rough in their first outing on Saturday against West Seminole. The visitors jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and went on to post a 12-1win over Marianna. On Sunday Marianna bounced back with an impressive 14-0 win over Holmes County and got an outstanding pitching performance from Walker Roberts. He recorded a no hitter and shut out in pitching the entire game and was one batter shy of pitching a perfect game. One batter reached on what was scored as an error but many of the local faithful felt the runner was out and that the umpire’s missed call had cost Roberts a perfect game. None the less Marianna held a slim 1-0 lead after the fourth inning as Reid Long scored on a Madison Harrell RBI single. In the top of the 6th inning Marianna picked up four runs and then exploded for nine more runs in the top of the 7th to blow the game open. That moved the Marianna squad into a Monday matchup against Bartow and the local boys got off to a good start. Marianna took an early 2-1 and then lead 3-1 after three innings. They kept the lead after four innings, with a 4-2 margin over Bartow. But the visitors picked up two runs in the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. They added four more runs in the sixth to take an 8-4 lead. Marianna fought hard and snared two more runs in the bottom of the sixth but that was all they could muster and were eliminated from the tournament with an 8-6 loss.
The Tri-Cities Dixie Jr. Boys All Stars, made up of players from Malone, Grand Ridge and Sneads, also found the going rough in their first outing. They fell 11-4 to West Seminole. Tri-Cities took a 1-0 lead as Ryan Danford singled and then scored on a RBI double from Antwain Johnson. But West Seminole countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. West Seminole pushed that lead to 5-1 after four innings. Tri-Cities picked up another run in the fifth inning as Danford reached on an error and later scored on another West Seminole error. West Seminole tacked on six runs in the bottom of the fifth and then held Tri-Cities to just two more runs for the 11-4 win. Those two runs came as Danford walked and then scored on another RBI double by Johnson. Cade Hall then stroked a RBI single to score Johnson. Johnson and Harrison Floyd each had two hits and Danford scored three of the four runs for the squad. They bounced back with an 11-5 win over Okeechoobee on Sunday. Matthew Jernigan was the winning pitcher and got offensive help from his teammates who racked up seven runs in the second inning. A Monday matchup against Winter Haven saw them come away with a 9-7 victory. Tri-Cities broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning when AJ Johnson’s RBI double scored Hall. Then they racked up a hit parade in the fifth inning as Danford, Antwain Johnson, Jernigan, Hall, AJ Johnson and Floyd all stroked hits. When the dust settled Tri-Cities held a 9-2 lead. Winter Haven mounted a come back effort but Tri-Cities held them off to set up a rematch with West Seminole on Tuesday night.
West Seminole saw a much better team on Tuesday night as Tri-Cities took an early 2-0 lead when Danford and Antwain Johnson both scored in the first at bat. West Seminole came back to tie the game at 2-2 in the third inning. In the bottom of the third Tri-Cities broke that tie as they loaded the bases and then drew two walks to take a 4-2 lead. West Seminole fired right back in the fourth with four runs and held a 6-4 lead. In the sixth inning Tri-Cities tied the game up as Antwain Johnson’s RBI double scored Danford. Jernigan followed with a RBI double to score Johnson and tie the game at 6-6. Tri-Cities missed out on opportunities in both the sixth and seventh innings to break the tie game but could not cash in with runners in scoring positions. The game went to extra innings and West Seminole plated two runs in the top of the eighth inning to pull off a hard fought 8-6 win. With the loss Tri-Cities finished third in the Jr. Boys Division.
The Marianna Dixie Jr. Boys All Stars found the going very rough as they were eliminated in their first two outings. On Saturday they fell to Winter Haven by a score of 14-3. Sunday’s contest didn’t go much better as the home team fell 17-1to West Volusia.
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In Dixie Youth baseball action in Sebring the Marianna Ozone All Stars squad fell 10-0 on the opening day to West Seminole American. They bounced back with a 12-0 win over Calloway on Sunday and a 13-3 win over Hardee Orange on Monday. On Tuesday they matched up with Wewahitchka and posted and 8-7 win to stay alive in the tournament. They were scheduled to play on Wednesday against the Tuesday night winner of a contest between Sebring and South Lake.
The Marianna AAA All Stars, also in Sebring, lost 19-1 on the opening day to West Seminole American. On Sunday they took on fellow Jackson County team Sneads AAA All Stars and won 15-5. Sneads had fallen 28-4 on the opening day to West Chapel American and thus with the loss to Marianna were eliminated. On Monday Marianna faced off against Freeport and in a hard fought close game, fell 8-7 to be ousted from tournament play.
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In Dizzy Dean 16U action over in Bonifay the Marianna All Stars lost 5-0 on opening day to the Mosley Orange team (Panama City). Marianna came back on Sunday with a 13-0 win over Messer Park. That set up another matchup against Mosley Orange on Monday.
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