Starkville 9's get off to hot start at State

COLUMBUS – Thursday's start to the 9-year-old Dizzy Dean East State Championship tournament worked out about as well as possible for Starkville.

Coach Reggie Little's team came out on fire against Houston with a 17-2 win in three innings and followed with a 15-2 beat down of Louisville in four innings. It helped set the team up for big things the rest of the way.

“It's a very tough deal with the pitching rotation and pitch counts," Little said. "We pitched the ball really well in both games. We didn't walk a lot of people and got people out. The key is not walking people."

In game one at Columbus' Propst Park, Starkville got the job done at the plate and on the mound. Casen Sanders and Julian Kracker led the way with two-hit performances, Kracker even had an inside-the-park home run.

Blake Little scored two runs and had a double, Miller Shy added another double with three runs of his own.

Brody Jones, Torian Knox and Tylan Calvert all shared an inning each to help preserve arms for game two and for the rest of the weekend.

“We were able to play just three innings and that helps us with our pitching," Little said. "That was a big deal. We played two games and only seven innings so we were able to save some innings.”

Louisville scored two runs early in its game against the Starkville 9's until the bats came alive. Starkville scored 15-consecutive runs to take the win in just four innings in a game that was again a total team effort.

Tyson Knox and Blake Little each had 2-for-2 games with Little garnering a triple. Torian Knox had a game-high three RBI in the game with Jones, Jon Scott Leslie, Calvert and Kracker all adding hits in the game.

Lucian Walker started and pitched 1.1 innings. Blake Little threw 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and Kracker closed the game with an inning pitched.

The two wins in short order set Starkville up splendidly for the rest of the tournament.

“Winning the first two games keeps you in the winner's bracket and you have the possibility of only playing four games the whole week,” Little said. “It's very good that we won those two games and that we didn't use a whole lot of pitching. I feel really good going forward.”

Game three of the tournament comes tonight at 6 p.m. in Columbus as Starkville will play Newton County. A win in this game will give the Starkville 9-year-olds a bye to Sunday's championship game where they would have to be beaten twice.