Americans worn out in loss to Columbia
Published 5:00 am Thursday, July 23, 2009
HATTIESBURG – The Columbia All-Stars eliminated the LincolnCounty American League All-Stars 17-6 Tuesday night in the DixieYouth Baseball AAA 9s South Regional at Doleac Sports Complex.Columbia had defeated the Americans 10-5 Sunday.
“I think to have been playing every day with no days off had avery devastating effect on our pitching and our options,” saidAmericans’ head coach Stan Winborne. “At the end, the kids werereal tired. Our spot in the bracket played a major role.
” “The kids ran out of gas,” continued Winborne. “We willed ourway back into the ball game the night before,” referring to a 17-16comeback win over the Hattiesburg Nationals.
“We didn’t have anything left (Tuesday) night. We made a lot oferrors (seven). We were wore out and beat down.”
Starting for the Americans on the mound was Parker Flowers whoworked 1/3 innings, facing 6 batters, allowing 5 runs (1 earned) on2 hits, 4 walks and no strikeouts. Dylan Winborne pitched the next4 2/3 innings and faced 29 batters. Winborne allowed 8 runs (3earned) on 4 hits allowed, walked 5 and struck out 5.
The pitching parade continued as Tucker Lambert (1 K, 3 BB)followed Winborne on the mound, facing 6 batters in 1/3 inning andgiving up 4 unearned runs on 1 hit. Tanner Waldrop (0 K, 1 BB)finished the game, pitching 2/3 innings and facing 3 batters,allowing 1 hit.
Powering the Americans at the plate with 2 singles and 2 runsscored was Winborne. Waldrop smashed a triple. Flowers doubled.Johnny Bowman and Tucker Lambert singled.
Lincoln County finished with 6 hits on the night. Columbiacollected 8 hits.
” I am very proud of our kids,” added Coach Winborne. “We didthe best with what we had. The parents were very understanding ofmy practice regimen. It was a very good year. The kids did a goodjob. We went to the big show and got in five ball games and we wonthree games.
“Our hitting wasn’t there last night. Our options were limiteddue to how long we were playing ball. We played five ball games andhad five different home plate umpires. They all had different areasfor pitches. All and all it was a very good year.”
Winborne was impressed by the Doleac Sports Complex facilitiesand the hospitality provided by the hosts.
“They have a wonderful facility, a five-field complex,”explained Winborne. “It rivals any you would see anywhere. The cityand county got together to fund the project along with privatefunds. They did a great job hosting the event. The people were veryinviting to us.”