By Lonnie Turner
Dillon’s #5 Bryce Patterson attempts to hold up but hits a foul. (Photos by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD.)
The Dillon and McLeod Park 9- and 10-year All Star teams advanced to the District 10 Tournament in Mullins by finishing the 5-Team Round Robin sub-district tournament that was held in Dillon last week with the best won-lost record.
Dillon had a perfect 4-0 record while McLeod Park finished 3-1 with the only loss coming at the hands of the Dillon youngsters.
To get to the District Tournament, Dillon defeated Francis Marion, 15-0, in four innings Saturday morning in the second game of the tournament after rain washed out the Friday evening opening games. The Marion All Stars knocked off Lake View in the opener, 13-3, that was plagued with 26 bases on balls. Highlighting Dillon’s opener, Zach Hunt belted two home runs out of the park and Nate Ford had an in-the-park grand slam homer in the second inning after hitting a 2-run blast out of the park in the first.
Dillon followed up on Monday with a 16-5 victory over their old tournament nemesis, McLeod Park. Mason Miller had three RBIs with a triple single and a fielder’s choice and with two RBIs each were Hunt with a double, Eli Henderson with two hits (double and a single), plus Holden Matthews on a single in the first inning.
Lake View won the late game on Monday in a game that took three and a half hours. The final out was made just minutes after midnight. Six Francis Marion pitchers walked 22 in the contest and four hurlers for Lake View issued 10 bases on balls
In the closest game of the tournament, McLeod Park took a 4-3 win in six innings in Tuesday’s first game, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the inning after Marion tied the game in the top of the sixth with three walks and a hit. Dillon stopped Lake View in the second game, 15-2, in four innings. Bryce Patterson, Nate Ford, and Eli Henderson led the way for Dillon with two hits each and a total of seven RBIs. Patterson drove in three with a triple and double in two official times at bat and Nate Ford tripled, singled, and walked to drive home three runs. Henderson collected two singles and one RBI.
McLeod Park flexed their muscles in a 19-hit attack to beat Lake View, 21-6, in Wednesday’s six o’clock game and Marion edged Francis Marion, 16-15, in the other mid-week game, another three-hour contest ending after midnight.
McLeod Park continued to put big numbers on the scoreboard, beating Francis Marion, 18-5, in their last game on Thursday and Dillon finished out the tournament by beating the Marion All Stars, 14-4, in five innings. Dillon scored five runs in the top of the first inning with five hits and two walks. Zach Hunt led Dillon with three hits in as many trips to the plate and Holden Matthews had two hits in three times at bat.
Dillon finished the tournament 4-0; McLeod, 3-1; Marion, 2-2; Lake View, 1-3, and Francis Marion, 0-4.
Photos by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD. Click the images below to view at full size!
