By Derek Thompson | The Selma Times-Journal

The 11-and-12-year-old district tournament turned into a home run  derby as Selma Red beat Thomasville 11-1 at the Dallas County Sportsplex Tuesday night.

Selma’s Demarcus Smiley got the home run rally started in the third   after the outfielder blasted the first pitch of the inning over  the fence to make it 4-1.

Smiley also hit the biggest home run of the game in the fourth. He sent another Thomasville pitch sailing over the center-field fence for a grand slam to extend the home team’s lead to 9-1.

“Again, we are staying disciplined at the plate,” said Selma Red head coach Nathan Ellis. “Batting practice, batting practice, batting practice. Hats off to Thomasville. They are a great team, but I believe we have a better team over here. If we keep hitting the ball like this we should go a long way.”

Osegia Aghedo got himself a piece of the home-run action too. Selma’s pitcher cranked one over the left-field fence to add another run in the bottom of the fourth.

Aghedo also picked up the win after striking out six batters, walking three and allowing one run on one hit.

Darrius Ellis got the save after pitching a one, two, three final inning.

Selma put it away in the fifth as Chris Gardner plated Smiley to reach the 10-run mercy rule.

Ellis said faith is the reason his team has made it this far in the tournament.

“When we pray together, I tell the players ‘God, family and everything else,’” Ellis said. “Baseball is everything else, but it is also family. God is the key. If we don’t have God in our lives, we can never do any of this. My hat off to God.”

Selma Red will play Thomasville  in the final game of the district tournament as the home team Wednesday at the Dallas County Sportsplex at 6:30 p.m.

The winner of Wednesday’s game will go straight to the state tournament and the losing team will go to sub-state.