World Series Roundup: South Carolina wins on late-inning homer
Jon Johnson / Dothan Eagle August 7, 2006
With one mighty swing of the bat, the dreams of a championship for Troy American were dashed. Down to its final out, South Carolina got a three-run homer off the bat of Will Hayslip to rally past Troy, the Alabama state champs, 7-5 on Sunday in the Dixie Youth ‘O’ Zone World Series at the G. Marvin Lewis Complex. Troy led 5-0 early and carried a 5-3 lead into the final inning before South Carolina (Dentsville) turned it around. Will Rew led off the top of the sixth for South Carolina with a home run to make it a 5-4 game. With one out in the inning, Troy avoided a run when Anthony Paulson was gunned down at the plate trying to score on a grounder to third base for the second out of the inning. But with runners at first and third, Hayslip towered a homer over the center field fence for the game winner. In the bottom of the sixth, Paulson sat down the Troy lineup in order to record the victory on the mound. With the loss, Troy is eliminated from the double-elimination tournament. It looked like it might be a breeze for Troy early on after scoring a run in the first and adding four more in the second for the 5-0 lead. In the second, David Norris reached on an infield hit with the bases loaded to make it a 2-0 game, and two more runs scored a batter later on a fielder’s choice and an error. Joe Bradley then drove in a run with a single to make it 5-0. South Carolina got an RBI single from Robert Sidall in the fourth, and then Boomer Callaway followed with a double to score two more in making it 5-3.
Beezer It was pretty cool reading it in the paper, but hearing it on the radio was over-the-top! The announcers were from Alabama so they weren't very happy.
South Carolina 12, Mississippi 1: In an elimination game Wednesday morning, South Carolina scored nine times in the top of the second inning on nine hits in gaining the victory.
South Carolina led the game 2-0 when heavy rains hit Tuesday night, and the team from Dentsville put it away early when play resumed on Wednesday. In the second, Anthony Paulson drove in two runs with a double to make it 8-0, then Boomer Callaway hit a two-run homer and Will Hayslip hit a solo home run before the inning was complete.
Austin Hill had homered on Tuesday and Callaway had driven in a run with a single for the 2-0 advantage going into Wednesday's play.
Jon Johnson / jjohnson@dothaneagle.com August 10, 2006
Georgia lost for the first time in the Dixie 'O' Zone World Series Wednesday night, but shortly afterwards got a victory of sorts.
With South Carolina's 9-6 win over Georgia, three teams remained with just one loss heading into today's championship play in the double-elimination tournament.
Georgia drew the bye and will automatically play in tonight's championship game at 6 p.m. at the G. Marvin Lewis Complex.
This morning at 10, South Carolina (Dentsville) will face Louisiana (Bossier City) to determine which team advances to play Georgia for the title.
South Carolina beat Mississippi earlier on Wednesday before earning the win over Georgia.
Georgia defeated host team Dothan National Blue earlier Wednesday before dropping its first decision.
In the late game, Georgia (Evans) took a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks in large part to a two-run homer by Mitch Borrer.
South Carolina got an unearned run in the bottom of the inning, then tied it with two runs in the second.
South Carolina then took its first lead when Anthony Paulson blasted a two-run homer in the third to make it 5-3.
Will Hayslip followed later in the inning with an RBI single as South Carolina led 6-3.
South Carolina made it 9-4 in the fifth when Trae Dent hit a two-run homer.
Georgia also got a two-run blast in the sixth by Will Price for the final score.
Unbelievable!! We just beat Louisiana 10-9 in eight innings to advance to the Championship against Georgia this evening! We were down 5-0 in the 4th and fought back! Boomer drove in the go ahead run in the bottom of the 5th. 7-6. They tied it in the top of the 6th to go into extra innings.7-7. They scored two more runs in the top of the 8th to go ahead 9-7. We came back and scored three in the bottom of the 8th to win. What a game!
Coach Jamie Dukes couldn’t hold back the tears. His players couldn’t hide the smiles. The hugs were everywhere.
When it was all over, it was Georgia’s power which once again told the story in what had been a grueling six-day tournament.
Georgia (Evans) got home runs from Austin Crown and Jerrick Gibson in beating South Carolina (Dentsville) 8-5 to win the first Dixie Youth ‘O’ Zone World Series Thursday at the G. Marvin Lewis Complex.
For the tournament, Georgia hit 16 home runs over six games. South Carolina flexed its muscles as well, hitting 13 homers in seven games.
There were 56 homers hit in the tournament.
Gene Cone and Will Rew each homered for South Carolina in the title game.
Earlier in the day, South Carolina won a slugfest over Louisiana, 10-9, to advance to the title game.
While those two teams were battling it out, Georgia had an opportunity to rest after drawing a bye into the title game following Wednesday’s games.
"That made a bunch of difference," Dukes said of the extra rest. "You don’t know how grueling a tournament like this is. This feels unbelievable."
An RBI double by Gibson and an RBI single by Tyler Moore gave Georgia a 3-1 lead in the second and Georgia led 4-2 in the fourth before the first big blast of the game.
With two outs in the fourth, Crown sent a pitch over the right field fence for a three-run homer to make it 7-2.
Rew homered for South Carolina in the bottom of the inning and Anthony Paulsen drove in a run to make it 7-4.
Cone homered in the fifth to cut the lead to 7-5 before Gibson gave Georgia a little breathing room in the sixth with a solo homer.
Clayton Peoples went the distance for Georgia on the mound to record the win.
South Carolina 10, Louisiana 9: South Carolina rallied back to win in a wild, eight-inning game earlier on Thursday to advance to the title game.
The final run came in on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth with runners at second and third and one out.
Louisiana jumped to a 5-0 lead in the game in the first inning, which included one of three homers off the bat of Kolbe Schufft.
South Carolina scored three runs in the third behind homers from Will Rew and Mike Coyle, to pull within 5-3. Louisiana led 6-3 in the fourth before South Carolina rallied for four runs to take its first lead at 7-6 in the fifth.
Louisiana battled back in the sixth with a run as Schufft homered to send it into extra innings.
Andy Watkins homered for Louisiana in the eighth before South Carolina came back to win.
