Vicksburg Tide rolling through competition|[7/30/06]

Published 12:00 am Sunday, July 30, 2006

Practice has made the Vicksburg Tide nearly perfect in tournament play this month.

The 5-and-6 year-olds’ All-Star team won two games Saturday in the Governor’s Cup Tournament to go with the three wins they got in claiming the USSSA state title three weeks ago.

&#8220Practicing three times a week has made a difference,” Tide coach Tracy Shirey said. &#8220To me, the key to winning at this age is getting the kids to pay attention and wanting to play.

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&#8220And the best thing about this group is that they pay attention.”

The Tide beat out three teams in winning the USSSA Tournament. There are five teams in the Governor’s Cup.

With a 10-8 win over Washington County Saturday morning, followed by a dramatic 12-11 comeback win over Clinton later in the afternoon, the Tide was seeded second for today’s final rounds.

The Tide will face Clinton at 11:30 a.m. while River City meets Washington County at 10 a.m. with the winner advancing to play top-seeded Northwest Rankin at 1 p.m. The finals are set for 3 p.m.

Against Clinton, the Tide trailed 11-7 going into its last at bat but wound scoring five times to get the victory. Leon Simms scored the winning run.

Sean Dickson and Jacob Davis had solo home runs to key the Tide in the first inning.

Dustin Shirey had two hits and scored twice to lead the Tide for the game.

Red Sox 22, Meridian 5.

The Red Sox hammered Meridian in an opening round tournament game of the 9-year-olds’ Governor’s Cup division.

The Red Sox advanced to play the winner of Saturday’s late game between the No. 2 seed Madison Shockers and No. 9 seed Mississippi Lumberjacks today at 1 p.m.

The other semifinal at 11 a.m. will pit the top-seed Madison Majors against the winner between top-seed M-R Stars and West Monroe. The championship game is set for 3 p.m.

The Red Sox were led in the Meridian win by Derek Dolan who had three three hits and three runs. Drake Dorbeck scored three times and had two hits while Hunter Lyons also had three runs and two hits. Ben Welp had two hits and two runs.

Dolan went the first three innings to grab the win and Connor Smith pitched a scoreless fourth.

Red Sox 9, Trace City 7.

Drake Dorbeck slammed a three-run, walk-off home run to key the Red Sox past the Trace City Chiefs in the 9-year-olds’ Governor’s Cup Tournament on Saturday morning.

The win lifted the Red Sox to a 2-0 mark in pool play and gave them a No. 3 seed for the 10-team, single-elimination tournament.

Vicksburg trailed 7-5 going into its last at bat, but singles by George Tzotzolas and Zachary Cox started a rally. Derek Dolan provided a third straight hit to score Tzolzolas to make it 7-6. Dorbeck then came through with a blast to straight-away center that easily cleared the fence for the game-winner. Tzotzolas went 3-for-3 to lead the Red Sox.

8-year-olds’ tournament.

It was a tough day for the local 8-year-old teams. The Warren County Warriors lost twice to end their tournament with a 1-2 mark.

They lost Saturday morning to Rhino Graphics 15-5. The Forest Hill Sluggers then beat the Warriors 13-3 on Saturday afternoon to end their day.

The Culkin Angels lost 16-6 to the Cleveland East Side All-Stars on Saturday morning and then lost 12-2 to West Monroe.

Cleveland and Forest Hill advanced as the top two seeds in the 12-team tournament.