By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Travelers found themselves in a must-win situation this morning at the USSSA 10-year-old World Series, being played at Southaven, Miss.
Wednesday, the Travelers lost to the Baton Rouge (La.) Central Scrappers 7-3 in the double elimination style championship bracket.
The Scrappers lost to the Arkansas Titans, from Greenwood which set up today's loser's bracket rematch between the Travelers and the Scrappers. And once again, it was the Scrappers taking the win, this time an 8-5 victory, eliminating the Travelers from the tournament.
The Travelers finished second in pool play Tuesday after losing to the undefeated Louisville Lightning Tuesday 14-4.
Forrest City opened tournament play with a 5-1 win over Houston, Texas and then defeated Blue Springs, Mo. Tuesday 5-3.
Akeem Bogard pitched the complete game against Houston while Cory Deere picked up the complete game victory over Blue Springs. Leslie Parker went the distance in the loss to Louisville.
The loss ended the season for the Travelers who were coached by Rusty Trail, Dusty Trail and Scott Deere.
*At Sulphur, La., Wednesday, the East Arkansas Ridge Runners finished pool play with a 4-0 loss to the Texas Xpress, leaving the team at 2-1 and seeded fourth into the double-elimination style championship bracket at the Seven-year-old World Series.
The Ridge Runners fell to Florida Extreme this morning 12-11 after leading 11-7.
The loss puts the team into the loser's bracket and they play again Friday, at 9:30 a.m.
A win on Friday will bring the team back on Saturday, where the team could play as many as three games.
The Ridge Runners took a break from tournament play Wednesday afternoon to face the nation's No. 1 team, the Houston Avengers in what tournament officials called a "friendship" game which doesn't count against a team's won-lost record. The Avengers won the matchup 8-0.
"We're playing well," said Forrest City Coach Tommy Hanner. "Our defense has come around for us. Until Wednesday, we had only given up three runs in two games. Now, we have our work cut out for us. We have to win now."
Playing twice on Tuesday the Ridge Runners defeated the Oklahoma Drillers 20-1 and the Louisiana Storm 5-2.
The Florida team was seeded 13th in the championship bracket.
The 16 team tournament field were divided into four pools of four teams to begin the tournament.
*At Van Buren earlier this week, the Jonesboro 8-year-old All-Stars won four straight games on Monday in temperatures that exceeded the 100-plus mark to move out of the losers' bracket and claim the Cal Ripken state championship.
With the win, the Jonesboro 8s will play in the Southwest Regional this weekend in Gulfport, Miss.
Jonesboro knocked of Siloam Springs twice to earn the state crown. Following a 12-3 win that prolonged the tournament by a game, Jonesboro beat Siloam Springs 13-0 to win the championship.
In the final game, Jonesboro cranked out 15 hits.
The Area 2 American Legion District Tournament gets underway today at the Wynne Sports Complex.
Forrest City and Wynne will open the tournament, when they face each other at 5 p.m.
Brinkley and Newport will play in the second game tonight, which is expected to begin at approximately 7:30 p.m.
The double elimination style tournament continues Friday with four scheduled games, beginning at 12 noon.
The tournament will continue into Saturday with the championship round scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Also on tap this weekend, is the July Bash youth baseball tournament, sponsored by the Forrest City Delta Storms traveling teams.
The tournament, for age divisions from T-Ball through 14-under, will begin Friday night at the Sports Complex and continue through the weekend.
Forrest City will also host the men's and women's slow-pitch district softball tournament this weekend.