It was a fight till the very end, but the Covington County 12U All-Stars fell 5-4 to the East Brewton All-Stars Friday night in the second round of the Cal Ripken 12U District Tournament at Johnson Park.

In the opening frame, Jordan Crane reached on fielder’s choice and then came around to score when Nathan Pate crushed a two-run bomb well beyond the fence in the left field.

Covington County second baseman Hunter Bedell then made a great running catch halfway into right field to end the East Brewton at-bat.

On the mound for East Brewton in the first inning, Crane picked up three strikeouts to end the opening frame with East Brewton on top 2-0.

Covington County pitcher Josh Hawkins settled in after the opening inning home run, and retired the East Brewton batters with relative ease.

In the bottom of the second inning, Crane picked up two more strikeouts and hadn’t allowed a hit from the Covington County batters.

East Brewton got two quick outs to start the top of the third inning before Crane ripped a double into the outfield.

Crane didn’t last long on second base as Josh Hawkins caught him napping and fired back to second base for the pick off and ended the frame. The play also seemed to spark some life on the Covington County side.

Zavier Phillips drew a walk to start the bottom of the bottom of the third inning for Covington County.

Bedell then ripped a pitch up the middle and into the outfield. Phillips raced around to third and then came around to score when East Brewton threw the ball away. Bedell ended up third as the tying run with no outs in the inning.

Jered Hawkins then helped out his brother on the mound by roping a RBI double to tie the game 2-2.

Jered Hawkins then stole third and while dancing around off third base, he caused the East Brewton pitcher to balk him home and give Covington County a 3-2 lead.

Crane settled down, regained his composure and punched out the next two Covington County batters looking. Crane then put the inning to a close with a comebacker to the mound, but Covington County was on top 3-2 at the end of the three innings of play.

Feeding off the momentum, Josh Hawkins retired East Brewton in order in the top of the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Parker Spears got things started with a single and then he promptly stole second base.

Spears then moved up to third where he was in perfect position for Micah Turner to drive him in.

The Covington County All-Stars began working the small ball and a perfectly placed bunt from Turner not only scored Spears, but the speedster also picked up single on the play.

Covington County continued with the small ball, but Mason Anderson was tagged out at the plate on bunt from Bedell.

East Brewton clawed back in the top of the fifth when Jordan Sims drove in Walker Hoomes with single up the middle, but East Brewton still trailed by one heading into the final frame.

Konner Woods then mashed a two-run blast for East Brewton to put them on top 5-4.

Covington County wasn’t able to get anything going in the bottom of the sixth.

With the loss, Covington County moves into the loser’s bracket and will play Evergreen today at 1 p.m.

The loser will be eliminated the winner plays the winner between Opp and Brantley at 5 p.m.