Governor’s Cup an even match for locals
Published 12:25 am Sunday, September 13, 2015
The three teams in the 10-year-olds’ Governor’s Cup baseball tournament took turns beating each other on Saturday, and now they’ll get to do it all over again today.
The Vicksburg Express, Naturals Baseball and Vicksburg Warriors all finished 1-1 against each other in Saturday’s round robin pool play round. It set up another day of wide-open competition in today’s elimination round, where any of the three teams seem to have a shot at the championship.
“I think we’re pretty even. Talent-wise, we all match up with each other. We have a chance to win it all. Our two best pitchers didn’t even pitch today,” Express coach Chris Green said.
The Warriors earned the top seed for the elimination round based off of run differential. They beat the Naturals 10-2 and lost 9-6 to the Express. The reward was a bye into the championship game. They’ll face the winner of a semifinal between the Express and Naturals at 3 p.m. on Halls Ferry Park’s National Field.
The Express and Naturals will play at 1 p.m.
The Naturals beat the Express 8-4 in the last pool play game Saturday. Maddox Lynch allowed one run in three innings and also scored two runs. Vaughn Hynum scored two runs, and Taylor Carter had a double.
Caid Sellars scored two runs for the Express.
“We’re a 9-year-olds’ team playing up, so we’re still learning. It’s our first year to play kid-pitch,” Naturals coach Wayne Lynch said. “I thought we did well that last game. We pitched real well and caught real well. I think we had one ball hit the backstop in two games.”
In the 14-year-olds’ division, a couple of Vicksburg-based teams will have some work to do to reach the championship game.
Team Elite Orange and Team Elite Blue earned the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively, for the elimination round. Blue lost both of its games Saturday and will have to play the top-seeded Jackson 96ers in a semifinal at 2 p.m. on the Babe Ruth Field.
Elite Orange lost 8-7 to the 96ers, but beat Elite Blue 13-6. Orange will play Sheets Sandlot in the other semifinal at 12:40 p.m.
The Vicksburg-based River City Hurricanes tied the East Coast Sox, 15-15, and lost to the Mavericks 9-4 in the 11-year-olds’ tournament and earned the No. 3 seed for the elimination round.
The Hurricanes will play the Clinton Reds — who are coached by former Porters Chapel Academy softball coach Chris Etheridge — in the semifinals at 11 a.m. today on the Bluff Field.
The Mavericks and Sox will play the other semifinal at 12:45 p.m., and the championship game is at 2:45.