The Selma o-zone all-stars aren’t taking the easiest the path to a state title, but the team is still in the running.

The 11-and 12-year-old all-stars finished second in this week’s district tournament in Monroeville, which was good enough to qualify for next week’s sub-state tournament in Montgomery. If the team had won the tournament, it would have automatically qualified for the state tournament in Fairhope.

“It is going to be a little tougher road than we wanted, but I believe we can do it if we stay together,” Selma head coach Ricky Waters said.

Monroeville defeated Selma 4-2 Tuesday night to end the district tournament. If Selma had won Tuesday night’s game, it would have forced a winner-take-all contest between the same two teams Wednesday night.

“There’s nothing for them to hold their heads down for because there are several other teams just in our district who are at home getting their football helmets out,” Waters said. “Their baseball season is over with and we are playing well enough to keep advancing. Hopefully we can get our pitching and hitting together at the same time.”

Monroeville had other plans Tuesday, rallying from an early 2-1 deficit after Selma pitcher Adarricus Tate left the game with an arm injury. Osagie Aghedo, Xavier Green and T’Darrious Olds all pitched relief innings in the game, but the all-stars could not produce enough runs.

“They were a solid baseball team,” Waters said of Monroeville. “Their bats were hotter than ours. We just could not produce any runs and could not get any base runners.”

With the defeat, Selma will move on to Montgomery for the sub-state tournament July 10. The sub-state tournament includes a field of six teams with the top two finishers moving on to the state tournament in Fairhope.

 

Selma 14-year-old all-stars qualify for state tournament

The 14-year-old Selma All-Stars defeated Thomasville 6-5 in ten innings on Tuesday night to advance to the state tournament in Muscle Shoals on July 18.

Selma led the game 5-1, but Thomasville rallied in the fifth inning to tie the contest.  Selma took the lead in the top of the tenth and relief pitcher Keyshawn Harrington came in to close the game out. Thomasville had a runner on first, but Harrington got out of the jam to close the door before a rally could get going.

“We had a little get together last night to tell them how hard they fought and [how they] didn’t lay down when times were tough,” Selma head coach Jason Egbert said.

Now, Egbert’s challenge is keeping his team focused during a two-week break between winning the district tournament and the start of the state tournament.

“That’s going to be a difficult task because they are 14-years-old and it is the summer time,” Egbert said. “To try to put baseball in with all the school workouts and trying to find time for everybody to be there as a team is going to be tough, but they have stayed focused and I think we will be fine.”