Midway through last week both the Silo Rebels and Calera Bulldogs were unbeaten but narrow one-run semifinals losses sent the Bryan County pair into the thirdplace game of the Tupelo Baseball Invitational.
It was the Rebels that avoided a two-game skid however as they bounced back with a 4-0 blanking of the Bulldogs in an early fall showdown.
Silo rode a stellar pitching performance from junior Aiden McCarty, who tossed a onehit complete game shutout in which he struck out seven and yielded only one walk.
The Rebel offense scored all the runs it would need in the opening stanza, cashing in back-to-back hits from Zane Sander and Cord Standridge to start the game by scoring both.
Silo tacked on a run in the third frame on Sander’s twoout RBI single and another in the sixth after a Calera error.
Sander tallied three of the Rebel hits in the contest. Standridge, Cannon Atwood and Blane Beauchamp chipped in one hit apiece.
Langley had the lone hit for Calera.
The Rebels dropped a narrow 2-1 verdict to Latta in the semifinals despite outhitting the Panthers by a 10-6 margin in the contest.
Sander posted three hits in that game as well with Jack Williams chipping in a pair. Jacob Wright, McCarty, Standridge, Atwood and Warner Bradley all finished with one hit.
Silo was a 4-1 winner against Moss in the tournament opener with Atwood going the distance on the mound while allowing six hits and one unearned run. He fanned three and walked one. McCarty wrapped up with two hits to lead the offensive charge with Peyton Scoggin adding a double and an RBI.
Calera also ended on the short end of a one-hit shutout on Friday in a 1-0 loss to Byng despite a strong complete game pitching effort for the Bulldogs from Logan Bumgarner as he scattered just three hits and struck out seven in going all seven innings.
The Bulldogs doubled up Navajo in their first tournament outing, 8-4, as Zaiden Craige recorded the pitching win with six strong innings, allowing four runs on four hits. They also pounded out 11 hits.
Bumgarner, Hazyn Applegate, Lex Carlton and Gavin Chaffin each notched two hits. Carlton drove in three runs while Bumgarner added two RBI.
Colbert Baseball
The Leopards rebounded from an early week loss to Wright City for a clean sweep to their own tournament championship, toppling Amber- Pocasset by a 6-2 count in the finals. They also blitzed Bennington (14-1) and Vanoss (5-1) on the way to the championship game.
Dalton Cummins and Zane Mischkot combined for a two-hit pitching victory versus Bennington as worked three total innings in the run rule. Colbert’s bats spread around 11 hits with Brett Parsons recording a pair along with three runs batted in. Hudson Brigman had a triple with Braxton Reese and Trevor Jackson adding doubles.
Colbert broke open a tight game against Vanoss with three tallies in the sixth inning spurred by Brigman and Jackson singles.
Isaiah Lopez fired seven innings and scattered nine hits as well as striking out 11 batters. Jackson and Brigman finished with two hits each to pace the Leopard offense.
Parsons got the pitching assignment against Am-Po and delivered a gem, yielding two runs on five hits, struck out eight and walked four in seven innings.
The Leopards erased a 2-0 deficit with another late flurry, scoring six times in the sixth inning. A Bridgman tworun double tied the game, and Lopez aided his own cause with a two-out single that plated the go ahead runs.