Powered by seven home runs, the South London 12 Year Old All-Stars captured the Area 2 title, outscoring their opponents 32-1 in two games.

South London opened play with a 21-0 win over Clay County, then beat North Laurel, 11-1.

“Our hitting has been dead on,” Coach Jeff Neal said. “And our pitching has been great. The kids are focused, and they have a ton of experience, which helps at this level.” This South London team made it to the final four in state as Minor Leaguers, then won the state last year as 11 year olds.

“This group is special,” Neal said. “Come game time, they have their game face on and ready to go.”

South London has some time off before the district tournament, which is scheduled to start July 6, also at South London.

“I’d rather keep rolling, but we’ll give the kids a couple of days off, then get back to practice,” Neal said.

North Laurel 11, Corbin 0

North Laurel also advanced to next week’s district tournament, beating Corbin in the loser’s bracket final, 11-0 Monday.

Dylan Messer picked up the win, going four innings, allowing no runs on one hit while striking out eight.

North Laurel used an 8-run first to take control of the game, then ended it on the Mercy rule when Austin Rudder smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.

Messer struggled in the first inning, walking two and hitting one to load the bases with two outs, then got John Cushman to strike out, ending the inning.

North Laurel then tacked on eight runs in the bottom of the inning, helped along by four Corbin errors.

With one out, Trevor Hill hit Keaton Kennedy, bringing Ethan Maxey to the plate. Maxey grounded to short, and the toss to second looked to be in time to get Kennedy, but the Corbin second baseman missed the bag. Jake McWhorter then singled to center, where the ball was misplayed, allowed Kennedy to score for a 1-0 lead.

Rudder then doubled to score Maxey, and an error on the throw back to the infield allowed McWhorter to score for a 3-0 lead, and Rudder ended up on third. He would score on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

Messer then doubled, followed by Jarrod Lewis reaching on an error. A single by Steven Nelson plated Messer. Lewis scored on an error, and Alex Nichols scored on a double by Zack Lawson. Lawson would then score when Kennedy reached on another error to make it 8-0.

Corbin looked to have something going in the top of the third, but two great defensive plays kept Corbin off the scoreboard.

Andrew Jones reached on an error to lead things off. He advanced to second, where he was picked off by a great throw by catcher Maxey. With two on and one out, Kyler Allen hit a little dribbler back to the mound, where Messer had to dive to his right to make the play. He throw to first from the seat of his pants to get the Corbin runner and end the inning.

North added one in the bottom of the inning when Lewis singled to lead things off, advanced to second on an error, and later scored on a single by Lawson.

Then in the fourth, McWhorter led off with a single, bringing Rudder to the plate. He took a first pitch offering and deposited it over the left field fence to make the final, 11-0.

South London 11, North Laurel 1

In the winner’s bracket final on Sunday, South London jumped on North Laurel 7-0 after two innings, then cruised to the 11-1 win.

Zack Allen picked up the win, while Austin Rudder took the loss for North.

Taylor Morris led off the top of the first with a walk, but Rudder got Kyle Jeffers to line out before Daniel Neal singled. Allen then popped out to short for the second out of the inning.

A single by Braden Miller scored Morris, then Jonathan McFarland singled in Neal to make it 2-0. Tyler Sears reached on an error, which allowed Miller to score. A single by Ethan Anders scored McFarland for a 4-0 lead.

South added three more runs in the top of the second as Morris again led off with a walk, then Jeffers smacked a two-run homer to make it 6-0. Neal singled and ended up on third on an error by the left fielder. He would later score on a sacrifice fly by Miller.

South London tacked two more runs on in the top of the fourth, thanks in part to an error, as Neal and Miller both scored for the 9-0 lead. North Laurel got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Jake McWhorter led off with a walk, followed by a single by Rudder. When Dylan Messer grounded out, McWhorter scored to make it 9-1.

Two more South London runs crossed home in the top of the fifth when a Miller singled scored Morris and Neal to make the final 11-1.

South London 21, Clay Co. 0

South London opened play on Saturday by crushing Clay County, 21-0. South scored two in the first, six in the second, three in the third and 10 in the fourth.

McFarland led the hit parade with two home runs and five RBIs, while Jeffers, Neal, Allen and Logan Mallory also went yard for South London. Mallory also added two doubles. Allen hit a grand slam as he drove in seven runs.

Neal, Miller and Jeffers combined to one-hit Clay Co. The three pitchers struck out a total of 11 batters.

North Laurel 7, Corbin 2

North Laurel built a 3-0 lead after three innings, watched Corbin cut it to 3-2, then scored four unanswered runs to take the 7-2 win.

North scored one in the bottom of the second was McWhorter led off with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Steven Nelson. North then added two in the bottom of the third to up its lead to 3-0.

Zach Lawson singled to lead off the inning, then came home on a two-run homer by Ethan Maxey.

Corbin scored twice in the top of the fourth as Austin O’Neill smacked a two-run homer off pitcher Lawson. North answered with two in the bottom of the inning, then two more in the bottom of the fifth.

In the fourth, Shane Miller singled with one out, but was forced at second by Jack Caudill. Lawson then singled, as did Keaton Kennedy, which drove in Caudill. Lawson then scored to give North a 5-2 lead.

With one out in the fifth, Rudder doubled, then Messer reached on an error. Both runners came home on a double by Jarrod Lewis to make the final, 7-2.

Denis House can be reached at sports@sentinel-echo.com.