THE CHAMPIONS ARE HERE: County 15U All-Stars clinch district crown
Published 12:05 am Tuesday, July 4, 2017
The Covington County 15U All-Stars earned wins on Saturday and Sunday to clinch the district title in Brewton over the weekend.
COVINGTON 5, BREWTON 1
The Covington County All-Stars battled the weather and Brewton in 5-1 victory Saturday morning on game that started Friday night.
Grant Barton got the start on the mound for the County All-Stars, and was wheeling and dealing before severe weather forced the game to be postponed.
In the bottom of the first inning, Chandler Mitchell got things started with a single to get things off and rolling for the County All-Stars.
Bryant Harper followed with a single of his own before a one-out single from Clay Ashberry put the County All-Stars on top.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, a single from Caleb Meredith gave the County All-Stars a 3-0 lead.
Meredith continued to swing a hot bat as he ripped a double to fence that brought Ashberry around to score.
A single from Gabe Dunn drove in Meredith.
Barton and Mitchell teamed up to no-hit the Brewton All-Stars on the way to a 5-1 victory.
COVINGTON 4,
ATMORE 0
The Covington County All-Stars took down Atmore 4-0 on Saturday evening, despite Atmore not being in the district.
There weren’t enough teams in Atmore’s district so they came to Brewton just to get in some games, but couldn’t win the district title.
On the hill for the County All-Stars, Harper opened up the game with a strikeout, but the runner reached on a dropped third strike.
Harper got the next batter to ground out right to him on the mound.
After catching the runner attempting to steal third, Harper got the next batter looking to end the Atmore frame.
In the bottom of the first inning, Brady Hamrac reached first off a two-out error by the Atmore third baseman.
Ashberry followed with a single that moved Hamrac around to third base, but then a ground out to second ended the early threat.
In the top of the second inning, Harper retired the Atmore side in order with three pop ups.
The County All-Stars got three-straight singles in the bottom of the second inning from Meredith, Dunn and Jeb Thomasson, but were unable to break onto the scoreboard.
Atmore finally got their first hit off a one-out single in the top of the third inning.
Harper worked around the hit to keep the game scoreless.
The County All-Stars got back-to-back base runners when Jonathan Cooley and Meredith reached with one-out in the bottom of the fourth inning.
However, Atmore was once again able to escape damage as they turned a double play to end the inning.
Harper came out strong and shut down Atmore in order in the top of the fifth inning to keep the game scoreless.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Thomasson reached first to start the frame after he was hit by a pitch.
Mitchell then drew a walk to move Thomasson down to second.
The County All-Stars broke through Harper helped his own cause by driving in the game’s first run with a single.
The County All-Stars added three more runs to help Harper earn a complete game shutout.
Harper limited Atmore to just five hits over seven innings of work.
“These kids have been playing great,” County head coach Chris Thomasson said. “As a coach, I can’t ask for anything more out of them. This team is made up two different junior varsity teams from Pleasant Home and Straughn, but they play like they have grown up together. I’ve never seen a group of kids that has come together as quickly as they have. They want to be successful for their teammates. I really have never been around a team that is as hard working and as coachable as these guys are.”