Published: July 14, 2008 10:29 am         

Champs

South London 11 year olds win district title

MIDDLESBORO—Facing elimination two nights in a row, South London coach Jeff Neal turned to pitchers John McFarland and Zach Allen to keep his team’s hopes alive against North Laurel in the 10-11 year old district tournament finals.

Both pitchers responded, with McFarland tossing a one-hitter in Thursday night’s 4-1 win in the first championship game, then Allen coming back with a four-hitter in Friday night’s 5-0 shut-out.

“Those guys gave us both compete games,” Neal said. “We’re deep on pitchers. We’ve got five quality pitchers, but those two really stepped up.”

North Laurel had beaten South London earlier in the tournament to drop South to the loser’s bracket, where they beat Clay Co. 14-0, then swept two games from North Laurel to claim the district title and a trip to the state tournament.

After Thursday night’s 4-1 win, Neal knew his team had momentum going into Friday night’s championship game. After holding North scoreless in the top of the first, South answered with three in the bottom of the inning, then tacked on two more in the second for the 5-0 lead.

“That meant everything,” Neal said of his team scoring early. “Those three runs in the first was huge. Anytime you can jump on someone early, it’s huge.”

With one out, Daniel Neal singled off Kyle Jeffers, then advanced all the way to third on a wild pitch and passed ball. He scored when Braden Miller reached on an error for a 1-0 lead.

Miller was able to move up two bases on wild pitches, then scored on an Allen single. After McFarland reached on an error, Matt Kimsey singled to score Allen to make it 3-0.

South added two more runs in the second when, with two outs, Miller and Allen both singled. McFarland then singled past first to score Miller, and Allen scored on a wild pitch to give South a 5-0 lead. That’s all Allen would needed, as he kept North Laurel at bay the rest of the way to secure his team’s district title.

“This is the most focused I’ve seen them since we started playing,” Neal said. “They came ready to play.”

South London 4, North Laurel 1

Facing elimination, McFarland took to the mound for South London on Thursday night, and got off to a rocky start.

With his team leading 1-0, McFarland allowed the first four North Laurel batters to reach base in the bottom of the inning on two walks, a hit batsman and a single off the bat of Keaton Kennedy that scored Zack Lawson to tie the game at 1-1.

After he walked Jake McWhorter to load the bases, McFarland worked his way out of the jam by striking out Ethan Maxey, getting Austin Rudder to force Jeffers at home, then struck out Dylan Messer to keep the game knotted at 1-1.

From there on, he didn’t allow a hit, and his team added three more runs to down North Laurel 4-1.

In the second inning, Taylor Morris walked to lead off the inning, then with one out, Miller and Allen both singled to score Morris for a 2-1 lead. Miller would later score to make it 3-1. Neal scored in the fifth after he singled and McFarland drove him in to make the final 4-1.

South London 14, Clay Co. 0

In the loser’s bracket finals, Logan Mallory smacked a grand slam homer as South London rolled to a 14-0 win.

Neal was 4-for-4 with two doubles, and Allen was 3-for-4 with a home run.