Beckley Babe Ruth 14s earn No. 1 seed; Sophia girls drop opener
Jul. 21—Bluegrass baseball seems to agree with Beckley Babe Ruth League's 14-year-old all-stars.
The West Virginia state champions ran roughshod through pool play at the Ohio Valley Regional in Lexington, Ky. After Friday's 15-0 win over host Southeastern Lexington, Beckley will take the No. 1 seed into bracket play that starts on Saturday.
Coupled with Thursday's 18-0 win over Plainfield (Ind.), Beckley finished pool play with a tournament-high 33 runs scored and is the only team not to have allowed a run.
In fact, Beckley has not allowed a hit. Tyler Wilhite and Drew Gallaher combined to hold Lexington hitless, a day after three pitchers combined to no-hit Plainfield.
Wilhite started and got the win, striking out four and walking two over three innings.
Both of Beckley's games ended via the mercy rule.
Against Lexington, Beckley pounded out 12 hits, led by Degan Williams' 3-for-4 day. He had a double and drove in three runs. Austin Long was 2-for-2 with four RBIs.
Gage Price and Wilhite also had two hits, and Brayden Keith tripled.
Beckley batters walked seven times and only struck out twice.
Beckley will open bracket play Saturday at 11:30 a.m. against the winner of Friday's late game between Plainfield and Tipton, the bottom two seeds.
Meanwhile, the Beckley 13s wound up as the No. 4 seed in single-elimination play at their regional in Janesville, Wis. They will take on No. 5 Crown Point (Ind.) Saturday at 11 a.m.
The winner will take on host and No. 1 seed Janesville Sunday at 11 a.m.
Beckley defeated Crown Point 16-0 in pool play on Thursday, then fell to Janesville 16-1.
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The Sophia Junior League girls had a rough start to the Southeast Regional Friday in Salisbury, N.C., falling to Florida 19-0.
Florida had advanced with an 11-1 win over host North Carolina Friday morning.
Sophia, the West Virginia state champion, will take on Tennessee in an elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m. A win would move Sophia to the 6 p.m. game.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
