Tupelo 49ers' season ends in Legion semifinals
Jul. 23—FULTON — For much of Sunday morning, the Batesville Pirates and the Tupelo 49ers were locked in a stalemate in the Mississippi American Legion Senior state tournament semifinals.
In the end, the Pirates broke through with big sixth and seventh innings. They used them to win 5-1 at Itawamba Community College and advance to the finals.
"I'm proud of the way the guys fought," Tupelo coach Russell Bunch said. "We got a hard loss the other day and we fought back, played really well yesterday, and it didn't work out for us today."
The game was tied 1-1 heading into the top of the sixth. Trey Drumheller led the frame off with a walk and, three batters later, scored on a single by Aiden Williams. Another run scored on a throwing error to make it 3-1.
In the bottom half, the Niners had a chance to make up ground with runners on first and second and one out. However, Reed Stanford grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The Pirates tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh, then Tupelo went down in order to end the game.
Bunch was quick to credit Batesville starting pitcher Landon Roberts for limiting what Tupelo could do at the dish.
"Their guy threw a really good game," he said. "This is the second time we faced him this year, and he's thrown really well both times. He missed some barrels and we had our chances. We had our chances today and just didn't get it done."
Roberts felt that his offspeed stuff made a big difference.
"I had a lot of good breaking balls. The fastball was just easy to locate," he said. "I just felt really smooth and just got in the zone, really."
The Niners struck first in the bottom of the second. Stanford led the frame off with a double, then scored two batters later on a groundout to make it 1-0.
In the top of the fourth, Batesville's Thomas Kuhn led off with a single, then went all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by the next batter. In the next at-bat, he scored on a groundout to tie the game.
Tupelo finishes its season 14-10-3. It was the first for Bunch as the head coach.
Extra Bases
Big Inning: Two fielding errors allowed the Pirates to build a 5-1 lead in the top of the seventh.
Big Stat: Roberts pitched 5 1-3 innings, allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out two.
Coach Speak: "I just appreciate all the guys and the way they played. They play hard every time we go out there, and they do anything I ask of them, and you can't ask for anything better. Great group of guys." — Bunch
