AMERICAN LEGION SENIOR STATE TOURNAMENT

Texarkana romps in shutout victory

MOUNTAIN HOME - Dalton Willige looked just fine Sunday night.

The Texarkana left-hander, who had elbow ligament replacement surgery last year, pitched a seven-inning shutout and led the Razorbacks to a 12-0 victory over Bentonville in the winner’s bracket of the American Legion senior state tournament at Cooper Park on Sunday.

Willige’s appearances have been limited since his surgery, and on Sunday the first two Bentonville batters reached on a base hit before he escaped without giving up a run and finished the first shutout of this year’s state tournament.

“Dalton is a tough competitor,” Texarkana Coach Dane Peavey said. “He is going to go out there and give you everything he’s got. And today he was on. For the five outings we had him this summer he’s been great. He goes out there and gives you strikes and lets the defense make plays. Sometimes he hasn’t had the defense behind him but today he did.”

Willige struck out nine batters and walked just one. He also got a lot of offensive help as the Razorbacks (34-11) had 13 hits and scored 11 of their 12 runs over the final four innings.

Texarkana scored first in the third inning when Luke McGuire singled with one out and scored on Trever Rucker’s double to deep center field.

Bentonville starter Trent Hill struck out six batters through the first 3 1/3 innings before Texarkana got to him. Austin Roark reached on an error before consecutive singles by Jake Garrett and Brandon White, which scored Roark. Garrett then scored on a double by Trey Jeans and White came home on a bunt single by Nathan Stubber.

Kyle Duncan walked and later scored on a double in the top of the fifth to put Texarkana up 5-0 and White walked and scored on another bunt single by Stubber in the sixth to make it 6-0.

Texarkana .........................001 311 6 - 12 13 0 Bentonville ..........................000 000 0 - 0 6 4 Willige and Roark; Hill, Stark (6), Short (6), Musteen (7) and Lewis. W - Willige. L - Hill.

JONESBORO 8, RUSSELLVILLE 7

Jonesboro scored five runs on four hits and three Russellville errors helped in the sixth to comeback from a 7-3 deficit.

William McCauley and Hunter Simpson each hit doubles to start the sixth as the first five batters of the inning scored to give the Ricemen the lead.

McCauley, Brown and Alex Camp each had two hits for Jonesboro (30-10).

Corey Hottinger had three hits for Russellville, which ended its season 19-18.

Jonesboro .........................102 005 000 - 8 9 2 Russellville .......................101 320 000 - 7 9 4 Hart, Bates (4), McNatt (8), McCauley (9) and Simpson; Barker, Haas (6), Stacy (9) and Hawkins. W - Bates. L - Barker. Save - McCauley.

BLYTHEVILLE 12, MOUNTAIN HOME 2 (7 INN.)

Brad Jones hit a grand slam in the top of the second inning, and Jamal Washington had four hits and three RBI for Blytheville (18-19).

Michael Miller added two hits and two RBI.

Austin Gardner led Mountain Home (19-18) with two hits, including a tworun home run in the bottom of the fifth. Blytheville ........................051 330 0 - 12 12 1 Mountain Home ....................000 020 0 - 2 5 5 Waggoner and Miller; Turney, Smith (2), Miller (4), Stephens (8) and Ninemire. W - Waggoner. L - Turney. HR - Jones, Gardner.

BRYANT 6, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 5 (11)

It took three unearned runs in the top of the 11th inning for Bryant to finally outlast North Little Rock in an 11-inning thriller to cap Sunday’s action.

With the score tied 3-3 going to the top of the 11th, Marcus Wilson began the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a one-out double by Tyler Nelson. After North Little Rock starter Dylan Boone registered his eighth strikeout, Hayden Daniel reached on an error that also scored Wilson. Another error on the play allowed Nelson to score. A double by Austin Caldwell scored Daniel to make it 6-3.

The Colts almost got those runs back in the bottom of the 11th. Jack Partlow reached on an error to get the Colts started and Gunner Allen singled to put runners at the corners. A second error by Bryant allowed Partlow to score and Justin Weigle, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on a single by Boone. The threat ended when Alex Gosser flew out to left for the final out. Bryant..........................000 001 200 03 - 6 8 2 NLR .......................... 100 000 011 02 - 5 12 4 Rutherford, Jackson (9), Schaclin (11) and Lessenbury .... Boone, Allen (11) and Gosser. W - Jackson. L - Boone. HR - Wallace.

At a glance THURSDAY’S GAME Blytheville 7, Rogers 1 FRIDAY’S GAME Bentonville 8, Russellville 6 SATURDAY’S GAMES Texarkana 6, Jonesboro 1 Bryant 4, Blytheville 3 North Little Rock 8, Mountain Home 3 Russellville 7, Rogers 4 SUNDAY’S GAMES Blytheville 12, Mountain Home 2 (7) Jonesboro 8, Russellville 7 Texarkana 12, Bentonville 0 Bryant 6, North Little Rock 5 (11) TODAY’S GAMES Game 11 Blytheville vs. Bentonville, 1 p.m. Game 12 North Little Rock vs. Jonesboro, 4 p.m.

Game 13 Texarkana vs. Bryant, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY’S GAMES Game 14 Winner game 12 vs. Winner game 11, 1 p.m.

Game 15 Loser game 13 vs. Winner game 14, 4 p.m.

Game 16 Winner game 13 vs. Winner game 15, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY’S GAME Game 17 If necessary game, 4 p.m.

Sports, Pages 15 on 07/29/2013

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