Selma All Star squads advance

Published 10:07 pm Friday, July 1, 2011

Selma 11 and 12 All-Star Ryhiem Eaton lets a pitch fly in the team’s 8-5 win over Holtville Friday at the Selma SportsPlex. Selma moved into the championship game Tuesday night with the win. -- Chris Wasson

The Selma 9-10 and 11-12 All-Stars swept their district tournament games Friday night at the Selma SportsPlex.

The 11 and 12-year-old side moved themselves into the district championship game with an 8-5 win over Holtville.

“I think the game yesterday allowed us to relax a little bit,” 11 and 12 manager C. Dwight Woods said. “It really got us ready to swing the bats tonight. We came out here and really did a good job hitting the ball.”

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It took a while for the bats to get going, but Fred Richardson again got things started for Selma in the top of the fourth inning with a single and was quickly driven in by Ladarius Woods.

The next batter, Desmond Williams, drove Woods in with a single of his own before the inning ended.

The 11 and 12s broke the game open in the fifth inning with four runs from the bottom of the order.

Even though Selma was up 6-0, Williams and Woods scored what would turn out to be two crucial insurance runs, including a solo blast over the right field wall by Woods to move the score to 8-0 going into the bottom of the sixth and final inning.

Holtville wouldn’t go quietly, though.

After a couple of walks and errors allowing one run to cross and filling the bases again, Nathan Burbage launched a grand slam to pull his side within just three runs, but the final out was made before the comeback could be completed.

“We have to do a better job of focusing the whole game,” Williams said.

“When you get ahead, you just have to keep that focus and finish the game, but I’m proud us getting the win tonight.”

The 9 and 10-year-old team advanced in the first game of their tournament with a thrilling 7-6 win over Grove Hill.

Keyshawn Williams got the win for Selma, throwing a complete game on the mound.

“He (Williams) did a great job for us up there on the mound today,” 9 and 10 head coach Miliam Turner III said. “Especially in the sixth inning, he really bore down and threw strikes when we needed them the most. He did a great job.”

The game was deadlocked at six going into the bottom of the fifth when Rondarius Sanders singled before coming around to score the go-ahead run.

Three outs later in the top of the sixth and the Selma 9 and 10s found themselves safely in the top bracket.

The 9 and 10s will be back in action Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Selma SportsPlex, the 11 and 12s will play Tuesday at 6 p.m.