By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
On the day after the Fourth of July, Pine Bluff made a lot of noise at the District 7 Babe Ruth 13-year-old tournament at the Sports Complex.
Pine Bluff got four runs each from Matthew Johnson and Reggie Lee on their way to a five inning 19-1 rout of the Forrest City All-Stars Thursday night.
In fact, Pine Bluff was just one run shy of ending the game under the three-inning run-rule, leading 14-0 after three innings.
Forrest City will play the West Helena/Wynne loser Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m.
Pine Bluff advances to play the West Helena/Wynne winner at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Forrest City kept the game alive after Pine Bluff failed to score in the fourth inning, by scoring a single run in the bottom of the fourth. Stephon Weaver singled, went to second on a Pine Bluff error, stole third base and scored.
Pine Bluff plated five runs in the fifth to end the game.
Weaver and Travis Holloway had the only two Forrest City hits in the game. Four other Forrest City hitters drew walks.
Weaver started for Forrest City and worked the first two innings from the mound before giving way to Holloway who finished out the game.
Pine Bluff's 19 runs came on 13 hits and six walks.
Pine Bluff led 3-0 after the first inning and 10-0 after the second inning.
They added four runs in the third.
In Thursday's first game, White Hall moved on in the winner's bracket by taking a 12-2 win over West Memphis.
West Memphis scored a pair of single runs in the top of the third inning while White Hall scored three in the second, one in the third, five in the fourth and three in the fifth for the win.
West Memphis was held to just three hits in the game.
White Hall advances to play Marion tonight at 8:30 p.m. while West Memphis returns on Saturday at 2 p.m. against a team to be determined.
The district tournament runs through Monday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MARION--West Helena held off Forrest City 7-4 Thursday at the District 7 Babe Ruth 15-year-old tournament being played at Marion.
West Helena will play White Hall, a 2-1 winner over Pine Bluff Thursday, today at 3:30 p.m.
Forrest City falls into the loser's bracket and will play Pine Bluff tonight at 8:30 p.m.
In other games played Thursday, West Memphis ran past Pine Bluff North 10-3 and Marion jumped all over Wynne 15-2.
Forrest City tied the game at 3-3 with three runs in the top of the second inning before West Helena took a 5-3 lead with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Forrest City added a single run in the third to get within a run a 5-4 before West Helena scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to post the win.
Jeremy Holmes, Milton Joyner, Jermaine Curne and Fred Walker each scored single runs for Forrest City.
Holmes and Joyner had two hits each while Curne connected for an RBI double.
Walker, the Forrest City starting pitcher, took the loss giving up the seven West Helena runs on just six hits.
West Helena committed four errors while Forrest City was charged with three miscues.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
It's official, the Bambino (9-10) League teams played their final games Thursday, opting not to make up the final two regular season games -- a rain out and a cancellation.
Well, at least four of the teams played Thursday.
Of the four scheduled contests at the Sports Complex, two turned into forfeits.
C.R. Sand downed Pearson Insurance 7-4 and Sanyo defeated Title Company 8-5 in the only two games played.
Mulay was awarded a forfeit win over McDonald's and Food Giant was awarded the forfeit win over Farm Credit.
Food Giant won the league title and finished with a 13-2 record while C.R. Sand finished second at 12-2.
Food Giant finished with an incredible 13-game winning streak after losing the first two games of the year.
Mulay and Sanyo, both 8-6 on the year, finished the season in a tie for third place while Napa held on to take fourth at 7-7.
Baker Aldridge and Derek Buchanan each scored twice to help push Sanyo past Title Company, which got two runs each from Josh Davis and Mark Machen.
C.R. Sand scored three runs in the first and third innings to move past Pearson.
Seth Smith and Brent Devazier scored two runs each.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Food Giant scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night to edge the Forrest City Young Guns 10-9 in the adult men's softball league.
The Young Guns led 9-8 as Food Giant came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.
Both teams were tied at 3-3 after the third inning before Food Giant scored twice in the fourth to lead 5-3.
The Young Guns plated four runs in the sixth to lead 7-5 before Food Giant went ahead 8-7 with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
With the win, Food Giant ends a three-game losing streak and improves to 3-6 for the year.
The Young Guns fall to 1-9 for the season.
In other games played Thursday, Poison and Elite Security each picked up victories to remain in a tie for first place in the league.
Both teams are 9-1.
Poison stopped Boar's Head two-game win streak 15-5 while Elite shut out Patton and Taylor 7-0.
Patton and Taylor managed just five base runners during the game.
Elite and Poison have yet to play each other head-to-head.
The first scheduled meeting between the two leaders was rained out back on June 7.
The two teams will finally meet on Monday, July 9 at 7 p.m. They are scheduled to play again on July 30.
S.S.A. improved to 6-4 for the year by turning back Sanyo 15-12 and Kerby's held off Miller Insurance 15-11.
The adult men have eight regular season games remaining to be played.
In the adult women's league, the Odd Sox shocked Chism Concrete for the second time this season, winning 5-4 Thursday.
The win puts Odd Sox in first place in the league standings at 9-1 while Chism slips to 8-2 for the year.
The league has five rain out dates to make up.
The Odd Sox scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to lead 5-2. Chism answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth and a run in the bottom of the seventh before making the game-ending out.
In other games, Purple Haze improved to 6-4 for the year by turning back Whatever 21-16 and Clark Appraisals had little trouble getting past Super Center 18-0.
Clark scored six runs in the first inning and added eight more runs in the fourth inning.
The league will begin playing their rain out schedule on Monday, July 9, when they will play the games rained out from May 21.