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The TBS #3 ranked East Cobb Astros avoided a scare in the semi-finals against TBS #4 ranked Team Alabama and the question on the minds of all the fans was did the Astros have enough in them to beat the NVTBL Stars? That question was answered decisively in the form of a 9-1 win for the Astros over the Stars to claim the Battle In The South 14U crown. East Cobb's manager was elated to capture the win. "I thought we played well in the finals after a bit of a rough semi-finals game. We got a big win over Team Alabama to get here and we beat a talented NVTBL Stars squad to win the crown."
NVTBL's manager reflected on his teams performance in the tournament as well. "I thought our kids played fantastic and I'm very proud of them. We were kind of an unknown team in the tournament, but we showed that we could play with anybody and beat some tough teams to get this far so overall, I'm pleased with how we did."
East Cobb started off their scoring in the bottom of the first inningwith a Nick High RBI double to take an early 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the second, that lead increased to 2-0 thanks to an RBI double from Brad Sansing. We moved on to the bottom of the third where the lead grew to 5-0, thanks to an RBI single from Josh Hart, an RBI single from Nick High, and a sacrifice RBI from Joseph Marlow.
The Stars got on the board in the top of the fourth inning from a Thomas Rogers RBI double. But East Cobb was back to their run-scoring ways in the bottom of the inning, using a 2-RBI triple from Hart, an RBI single from Travis Demerritt, and a base-runner stealing home and the game would conclude with the Astros winning the Battle In The South 9-1. The Astros were
led at the plate by Nick High (2-2, 1 2B, 2 RBI's) and Josh Hart (2-3, 1 3B, 3 RBI's). Bruce Kirkpatrick went the distance, pitching a two-hitter and striking out four batters while walking one and only allowing one run.
The Astros road to the tournament crown started with an 11-0 win over the Panthers baseball Club, a 10-2 win over the Knoxville Stars, a come-from-behind 7-6 win in the semi-finals over Team Alabama, before winning the finals over the NVTBL Stars.
The Stars got their hits from Thomas Rogers (1-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI) and Andy Mocahbee (1-2, 1 2B). Denathan Davis (2 1/3 innings, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks, 6 hits, 4 runs) was tallied with the loss. To claim the tournament runner-up spot, the Stars beat the Ohio Heat 7-6 in the round of 16, in the quarter-finals, they beat the Cincy Flames 12-4, in the semi's they beat the Indiana Prospects 12-2 before succumbing to the Astros in the finals.
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