By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
The Hartselle 13-year-old All-Stars' defense let them down in the first round of their district tournament against Decatur National at Sparkman Park. The Hartselle team made a combined 20 errors in the two losses, 18-7 on Friday night and 15-5 on Saturday night.
Decatur National finished as the District 1 champion, while Hartselle advanced to the consolation round for a best-of-three series against Lawrence County American. Games 1 and 2 were Wednesday and if necessary Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday. The winner of the consolation round will also advance to the state tournament in Scottsboro starting July 21.
Game 2
Decatur National 15
Hartselle 5 (6 innings)
Hartselle dug itself a big hole Saturday night, falling behind 6-1 after two innings. Decatur National put Hartselle away with five runs in the sixth inning.
Hartselle managed a comeback in the fifth inning, scoring three runs to cut Decatur's lead at the time to 9-5. Decatur National's Daniel Deffenbaugh erased any chance of a Hartselle comeback, striking out all five batters he faced in relief.
Neely Kirby scored two runs and Ryland Blankenship, Lonnie Dumas and Jake Johnson scored once each. Dumas also had an RBI single and Terry Wiggins collected an RBI on a groundout in the fifth inning. Blankenship finished the night 3-for-3 from the plate, including a double.
Game 1
Decatur National 18
Hartselle 7 (6 innings)
The Hartselle team trailed 11-1 after three innings and was unable to come back against a Decatur National team that took advantage of twelve Hartselle errors.
Blake Franks was 2-for-3 in the game and led Hartselle with three RBIs. Seth Wiley had two RBIs and also scored two runs. Chance Partlow, Chase Overton, Brandon McNutt, Kirby and Wiggins each scored a run.