Editor's Note: Due to press deadlines, the results of Saturday's games were not available.
ALMA – Michael Taylor slugged the first home run in the three-year history of Alma's Wood Bat Invitational and the Airedales rolled to a 9-3 win against Monticello on Friday night.
Alma will play Vilonia in the championship game on Saturday at 6:45 p.m.
Friday, Alma spotted Monticello a 1-0 lead but answered with two runs in the bottom of the first inning on consecutive bases-loaded walks by Cash Wilson and Kyle Peters.
Colby Kimmons led off Alma's second inning with a base hit and Brayden Driscoll walked. With two outs, Taylor turned on a 2-0 fastball and launched it over the left field fence for a three-run homer and a 5-1 lead.
"I just had to stay within myself and help the team out," Taylor said. "I had to do a job. I wasn't going for the home run but that was the outcome."
Even with a wood bat, Taylor felt it was going to leave the park.
"I believed it would," Taylor said. "I was on my horse, but coach said it was gone that there was no doubt about it. Off the bat, I didn't even feel like. I knew that ball was crushed. I was so excited to jog those bases and help out the team."
Driscoll's fielder's choice grounder scored Dylan Jackson with a run in the third inning. Alma added two more runs in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Easton Daily and a ground ball by Wilson.
Monticello scored twice in the fifth inning on a sacrifice bunt by Kaleb Romero and a run-scoring single by Trystan White.
"Our patience at the plate was the difference," Alma Coach Brian Fry said. "We didn't get ourselves out. After Michael hit that home run on 2-0, we started early. Offense is about momentum. We grabbed momentum early."
Alma tacked on its final run in the sixth inning. Camden Curd led off with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.
After giving up a run in the first inning and walking two, Wilson struck out 8 to earn the win. Eli Risley closed out the win, striking out five over the final 2-1/2 innings.
"Cash did his job and filled it up," Fry said. "He settled in. Our pitching will keep us in it, and offensively we know what we have."
VILONIA 10, DOVER 5
The Eagles moved into Saturday's championship game with a big game early Friday afternoon.
Vilonia scored three runs in the second inning, another run in the third inning, added four in the fourth inning and two in the fifth.
John Mason Halley's fielder's choice grounder scored a run in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1 before two more scored on a dropped third strike.
Clayton Raeburn's run-scoring double made it 4-1 in the third inning.
Miles Bailey and Levi Lane drove in runs in the fourth inning before two more scored on an error and a defensive interference.
Halley singled, stole second and scored on an error before Bailey added a run with a bases-loaded walk.
Hayden Teague earned the win with four hitless innings, allowing one run, walking seven and striking out seven.
PANAMA (Okla.) 4, PARIS 0
Panama scored all of its runs in the third inning for the win in the first game of the loser's bracket Friday.
Alyn Seamon and Shawn Hogan had consecutive singles after Dylan Restine and Caleb Brewer had walked to score the runs.
Brewer went the distance for Panama and gave up just four hits.
OZARK 2, HOWE (Okla.) 0
Braden Bramucci threw six scoreless innings to earn the win in the loser's bracket Friday.
Bramucci allowed four hits, walked two and struck out three. Daxton Shaffer struck out two in the seventh for the save.
Ryder Herriage and Brayden Hunt walked with one out in the first inning, Herriage took third on a passed ball and scored for a 1-0 lead on a grounder by Blaine Childers.
Caleb Lyons reached on an error to open the fifth inning and scored for a 2-0 lead.
THURSDAY'S GAMES
ALMA 5, PARIS 2
Michael Taylor, Jackson Daily, and Camden Curd had consecutive hits in a four-run sixth inning to lead Alma to the 5-2 win in the final game of the first round of the third Annual Wood Bat Tournament.
Daily and Curd each drove in a run with singles in the sixth inning.
Taylor drove in Alma's first run for a 1-0 lead in the first inning and had three hits.
Piercen Howell started and went 4-2/3 innings for Alma, striking out seven with Branson Brogan earning the victory with 2-1/3 scoreless innings of relief. Brogan allowed two hits and struck out three.
MONTICELLO 1, PANAMA (OKLA.) 0
The Monticello Billies made one of their two hits count Thursday for a 1-0 win over Panama, Okla.
Monticello struck out 14 times, but Warren Pennington's two-out single in the top of the sixth inning scored Kaleb Romero for the game's only run.
"It's not about how many hits you get, it's about when you get the hit," Monticello Coach Ross Rogers said. "You can win with one hit, it's just a matter of when it comes."
Romero coaxed a full-count walk with one out, stole second and advanced to third on a grounder by Trystan White. Pennington lined the first pitch sharply to right for the decisive run.
Senior pitcher Easton Byrd needed 100 pitches to go the distance to earn the win, striking out 5, walking 4 and scattering 4 hits.
Byrd pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and worked out of a final jam in the home half of the seventh.
Byrd went to three balls to three batters in the first inning and threw 25 pitches. After that, he went to three balls just once and never needed more than 14 pitches in an inning.
Boomer McClain reached on an infield single with one out in the home half of the seventh for Panama and stole second. After another out, Brex Caldwell was walked intentionally before Byrd retired the final batter.
In the seventh, all three of Panama's outs were foul pops to White, Monticello's catcher.
"This is probably the best two teams in the tournament that played right there in the first round," Panama Coach Chris Gollihare said. "We pitched it well and got a good defense. They got a runner to third and scored a run."
Caldwell, Panama's 6-4, 215-pound senior who signed with Oklahoma State in November, allowed 1 hit in 5 innings with 2 walks and 11 strikeouts. He departed after 84 pitches.
"He can beat anybody he gets on the mound and throws against," Rogers said. "We did a good job of working the count and getting him out pretty early. We played well and didn't make many mistakes."
VILONIA 9, OZARK 7 (13)
Vilonia scored three runs in the top of the 13th inning to win the tournament opener after 4 hours and 49 minutes.
John Mason Halley walked and stole second to start the 13th inning and scored on a single by Carter Brown. Levi Lane singled, sent Brown to third and both scored on a base hit by Miles Baily.
Austin Archer earned the win for Vilonia with two scoreless innings of relief.
DOVER 12, HOWE, OKLA. 1 (5)
Levi Standridge struck out seven and allowed just two hits to earn the win for Dover in the second game of the day.
Kaleb McGhee walked four times and Brady Ayers doubled twice and drove in two runs.
Dover scored four runs in the third inning to go up 5-0, added three in the fourth and four in the fifth.