10U hosts district tourney

— Pea Ridge held the district 10-year-old baseball tournament this year on Weston Street and drew a tough opponent the first round with Gravette, who jumped out to a quick 5-3 lead after the first inning.

Pea Ridge kept the game close until the fourth inning, then blew it open on Gravette miscues. The game ended at 1:40 a.m. in the fifth with Pea Ridge on top 24-11.

The next game against Carroll County, who led 1-0 after the first inning. The score stayed 1-0 through the fourth, due to pitching from Trey Kitterman and Hayden Holtgrewe, keeping Carroll County bats off balance. In the top of the fourth, the Pea Ridge bats woke up and put six runs on the board, thanks in part to Wyatt Weber’s three-RBI double. Malcum Noblespitched the fifth and sixth innings, keeping the Carroll County all-stars scoreless and ending the game with a 6-1 victory.

Once again, a long rain delay postponed the winners’ bracket final to a 9:30 p.m. start time versusMadison County. The game started in a light rain with Pea Ridge jumping out to a 10-0 lead after the top of the first. Hunter Gaston pitched the bottom of the first in a downpour holding the Madison County team to three runs. With both teams having a chance to bat, the game was suspended until 5 p.m. the next evening. After resuming the game, Aaron Sanders missed a homerun to centerfield by inches to keep Pea Ridge adding runs on the scoreboard.

Jon Wilson, Eaton Lane and Roman Toms kept the offense going by piling up RBIs on Madison County.

Holtgrewe and Nobles shut down Madison County to a five-inning mercy-rule win of 21-9.

The final night of the tournament, Gravette fought back from the losers’ bracket to the championship game versus Pea Ridge. In the top of the first, Gravette held Pea Ridge hitless with three great defensive plays. Kitterman pitched himself out of several jams in five innings of great pitching, only giving up four runs.

The Pea Ridge offense wasn’t much help until the top of the sixth. Trailing 4-2, Weber and Vernon Leach came up with two very timely singles to put the Gravette lead in jeopardy. Chris Sparks singled to bring the difference to one. Don Busby’s pinch hit moved runners into scoring position and a passed ball on an errant pitch tied the game at 4.

Pea Ridge was not able to take the lead and moved to the bottom of the sixth tied with Gravette. Holtgrewe did not allow Gravette a base runner. In extra innings, Gaston led off with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch to help his team take the lead. Sparks added an RBI double to give Pea Ridge a 6-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Holtgrewe walked one and struck out the side as Pea Ridge 10-year-oldswon their second consecutive district title and third come-from-behind win in four games.

Pea Ridge did not fair as well at the state tournament in Van Buren, losing to Mountain Home 6-5 and Van Buren 12-7.

Sports, Pages 8 on 07/28/2010