By April Smith Carpenter

July 22-24th, (Cordova, TN) – Double elimination began for TBS ranked Ark La Tex Tornados with three victories right off the bat, a shut out win against the Austin Slam Bulldogs, 11-0, a 10-2 win over the Memphis Tiger 13’s, and a 5-2 win over West Covina Bombers Elite.  Garrett Williams, pitcher who set the all time strike-out record last year in the Little League World Series, pitched against West Covina sending them into the losers bracket. Ark La Tex’s only loss during double elimination play was on Thursday, July 24th against the Tulsa Hurricanes. “It’s hard to believe that this one turned out to be so close in score, we gave up 7 runs in the first inning,” commented Ark La Tex’s head coach Bob Horn. At the midpoint of this ball game the Tornadoes found themselves down 0-8 when the home plate umpire made a controversial call. “This didn’t dampen our teams spirit, it actually helped us battle our way back,” continued Horn. “Our boys played so much better after this, it’s a shame we couldn’t pull out the win.” The final score was 14-12.  According to Tulsa’s head coach Curtis Zigler, “the game against the Ark La Tex was the turning point for us, we knew that the tournament was ours to lose, so everyone got confident.”

Ark La Tex found themselves in the semi-final game against the Memphis Traveler 13’s on Thursday evening, July 24th.  The Memphis Traveler 13’s moved on to the championship game with an 8-0 shutout of the tornadoes. Tornado’s Sheldon Neuse had an excellent tournament according to Coach Horn. “He hit close to .700, he is the best player I had in this tournament.” In conclusion coach Horn commented about the two team that beat the Tornadoes, “Tulsa and Traveler 13’s are both great organizations, with great boys and very well coached. Coaching for me isn’t about winning trophies, it’s about the kids,” concluded Horn.

Buzz Lightning Baseball Academy began double elimination play as the #1 seed and with a loss to the Memphis Traveler 13’s 6-3, a shut out win 12-0 against the Fighting Celtics, and a close loss to Blue Thunder 8-7.  Tuesday’s game, July 22nd the Buzz couldn’t make anything happen against Memphis Traveler 13’s pitcher Chase Hamilton. Hamilton pitched 7 innings for the Traveler 13’s and gave up no runs.

The Memphis Traveler 13’s double elimination play started with a shut out win 8-0 against Semo Six and the win against the Buzz 6-3. The loss to Tulsa Hurricanes was a close one, 12-11. Tulsa’s coach Zigler commented about the Memphis Traveler 13’s team, “we faced them earlier this year so we knew what a quality ball team they are. We were excited when we beat them, it was a confidence builder, and they’re always a great team.”  In their next game, the Traveler 13’s won 14-6 against the Centex Longhorns but it wasn’t as easy as the score appears. Keith Buhl, of the Longhorns hit a solo homerun in the first inning putting the Longhorns ahead 1-0.  Buhl then had a 3 run homer in the 3rd inning extending the Longhorns lead to 4-1. However in the top of the 5th inning the Traveler 13’s hit two homeruns, which tied the score 4-4. During the 6th inning the Traveler 13’s secured their victory with an onslaught of hits and runs bringing the score to 14-4. The Longhorns didn’t give up according to head coach JD Thompson. “We fought back with 2 more runs in the 7th inning but we couldn’t get any more than that.”

Also on Thursday, July 24th, the Memphis Traveler 13’s played two more games after the win against the Centex Longhorns. Traveler 13’s pitcher Victor Cole pitched the last 4 innings of the game against the Longhorns and thirty minutes later he pitched the entire game against West Covina according to Traveler 13’s head coach Curtis Copeland. Cole gave up only one run in their near shut out win 9-1 against the West Covina Bombers Elite.  In the semi-final game against the Ark La Tex Tornadoes the  Traveler 13’s pitcher Chase Hamilton pitched 7 innings giving up only 3 hits and no runs. The final score was 8-0.  Two teammates for the Traveler 13’s had not only multiple hits but also multiple homeruns.”Ark La Tex is the best hitting team we have played so far in this tournament, for us to shut them out is a masterpiece” commented coach Copeland.  Chase Hamilton and Ryan Garner each hit three homeruns in the three games that were played on July 24th.  

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