"Dixie Youth World Series Wraps First Day of Play" by Frank Sports Talk (F.W. Manning II)

Dixie Youth World Series Wraps First Day of Play

August 14, 2011

Mother nature threw the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series quite a curveball when showers drenched the grounds at Hillcrest Park Saturday in Carthage.

The weather drastically curtailed the original opening day plans, which had 24 teams, from 11 Southeastern states, scheduled to take the diamond ---- each harnessing hopes of capturing the ultimate national prize for playing the nation's longest enduring and most beloved of all pastimes.

Ultimately the 12-team AAA tournament portion of the World series, for 9-10-year-old teams, was postponed until Sunday afternoon due to unplayable conditions on fields No. 1 and No. 3

Action did take place in the Majors 11-12-year-old tournament, as all 11 qualifying state championship squads took the field along with host team Moore County.

The first game -- between Florida and Texas -- started on field No.4 at 6:15 p.m. with the sunshine state's boys beating up on the lone star state's squad to notch a 10-0 mercy-rule win.

More than six hours later, the final out of opening day action was recorded as Dunn, N.C. topped Moore County 12-2 in a four-inning game via the mercy rule in a tilt that ended 29 minutes past midnight.

Nathan Batalla --the host team's shortstop and three-hole batter -- belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the first frame to plate Trey Wood, who had reached with a single.

The roundtripper brought Moore County within in a run, trimming Dunn's edge to 3-2.

After plating a run in the top of the second, the visitors blew the game open by posting a six-spot on the board in the top of the third to take a 10-2 lead.

Meanwhile, Moore County's bats went cold as the squad only had one hit -- a single by Ethan Horne-- in its last three innings at the plate.

Louisiana edged Arkansas 2-0, Alabama topped Tennessee 4-1 and Mississippi defeated Virgina 12-0 to round out day one's Majors World Series tournament action.

Moore County's next opponent will be South Carolina (an 8-3 loser to Georgia) in an elimination game. However the starting time for this contest, nor any other game, could not be confirmed by tournament officials.

For the latest announcements and scheduling updates, visit the Moore County 2011 Dixie Youth World Series Site.

Scores and detailed recaps of all completed Dixie Youth World Series games, along with GAMELIVE automatic real-time interactive box scores for all ongoing games, can be accessed by clicking here

Live streaming audio and video for each game (along with replays of completed contests) can be viewed at jockjive.com

Last thing.

The atmosphere of the World Series -- out there at Hillcrest Park in Carthage -- is truly festive and uplifting.

And what, with the heat wave MIA ( at least for the time being) and daily admission a true bargain ... I wanna take the chance to dare anyone reading this to go out there among the kids, parents, coaches, players, banners, baseballs, bats, mitts and flags ... AND not be proud to be an American.

Go ahead, I double dare you.

No, no, no: I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU.

HeelsHoopFan 9 months, 2 weeks ago

I ditto those remarks...... and kudos to the tournament directors and organizers. The place was really alive and the "Gray Ghost" were in full force ensuring there were no traffic tie ups. I am seeing folks from out of town all over the place and they all seem to be having fun in Moore County. Big going ons at the county baseball complex. Everybody should get out there by Thursday before the circus leaves town.

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