State flags began dropping by mid-day Saturday at the 8 and under Cal Ripken Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament as teams were eliminated either in pool play or single elimination bracket play last night.

This morning, there were four teams and two state flags left in Laurinburg, N.C., West Raleigh, N.C., Sarasota, Fla. and Matthews, N.C., who played in the semifinals.

Sarasota beat Matthews 13-3 behind its legendary hitting, which has carried the Florida team through the tournament.

West Raleigh beat Laurinburg 8-1 to reach the championship, and would eventually win the regional tournament by the same score over Sarasota.

West Raleigh jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, and Sarasota didn’t have an answer for the North Carolina team’s strong defense.

WR added two runs in the fourth inning, and three runs in the sixth to pull away.

Sarasota scored its only run in the sixth inning.

Ian Turner and Mike Venditti went 2-for-3 each to lead West Raleigh.

Tanner Darley and Logan Waldschmidt went 2-for-3 each to lead Sarasota.