The Vicksburg Venom have played in tournaments all over the state and the south this summer. Still, there’s no place like home.

Dale Griffith hit a three-run homer, Liam Hopson added a solo shot, and Taft Nesmith went 3-for-3 with two RBIs as the Venom beat Carrollton, La., 16-9 in the 10-year-olds’ Governor’s Cup championship game Sunday at Halls Ferry Park.

The Venom won three games in a 7-hour span Sunday to claim their second straight Governor’s Cup title to go along with a Cal Ripken state championship. They scored 33 runs in the three games, and had 14 hits in the championship game. Brooks Boolos went 6-for-10 with six RBIs on the day, including a string of five straight at-bats with an RBI. In the final, Lane Hynum went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and four runs scored, and Lee Simpson was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

The Venom were one of three Vicksburg teams to win Cup championships on the tournament’s first weekend. Brown’s Bombers won the 16-year-olds’ title, while the Vicksburg Braves took the 7-year-olds’ crown. The Vicksburg Gators fell in the elimination round of the 12-year-olds’ bracket.

Other champions were the Sliders, based in Brandon, in the 12-year-olds’ division, and the Lakeview Pirates in the 13-year-olds’ bracket.

“The competition is real strong in the Governor’s Cup, but we just seem to hit really well when we come home. I don’t have an explanation for it,” Venom coach Todd Boolos said. “We hit top to bottom. That’s where we won this tournament, was at the plate.”

The Venom easily defeated Fury Baseball in their first game Sunday, 11-3, then survived a 6-5 dogfight against the Clinton All-Stars in the semifinals. Brooks Boolos’ RBI single in the top of the fourth was the game-winner against Clinton.

In the championship game, the Venom fell behind 3-1 after two innings before their bats heated up. Hopson’s one-out homer over the left center field fence ignited a seven-run rally that gave Vicksburg the lead for good. RBI singles by Brooks Boolos, Simpson and Nesmith, along with three walks and two Carrollton errors, helped the rally along.

“They’re an excellent hitting team,” said Carrollton coach M.H. Phillips, who used six different pitchers to try and slow the Venom down. “We had good pitching all year, and that’s the best hitting team we’ve played.”

Carrollton scored twice in the bottom of the third to cut it to 8-5, then Griffith came up with a big blow in the fourth. A pair of walks set the table for him, and he delivered a 250-foot bomb that landed on an adjacent field. The three-run homer put the Venom ahead 11-5, they scored five more in the top of the fifth, and were not threatened again.

“It gave us the separation we needed,” Todd Boolos said.