Starkville rallies to defeat Saltillo

WEST POINT – After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, there was no concern on the young faces of the Starkville 10-year-old All-Stars.

The youngsters tightened up their cleats, came up to the plate and started swinging and suddenly, they controlled the game.

Starkville answered with a five-run bottom of the first inning and took the game over from there. The time limit came into play in the fourth inning, but it won the game and advanced with a 9-5 victory over Saltillo.

“Eventually I knew our bats were going to get going,” Starkville head coach Steve McKee said. “We struggled a little bit there at first, but we ended up making it happen.”

The pitch count limit came into play for both teams in the game, but Saltillo felt the burn more than Starkville. Coach McKee maintained all of his pitching for the rest of the tournament limiting six pitchers to just 20 pitches each along the way. It wasn’t always pretty, but Starkville got the job done with a total team effort.

Falling behind early wasn’t exactly the plan for Starkville as it had to roll through three of its pitchers right away.

Starkville dropped to a 4-0 disadvantage with just one out in the top of the inning before Major Smith got them out of the jam with two big strikeouts. From there, Starkville settled in.

Lead off hitter Tanner McKee started the offensive output with a single in the bottom of the first but two-straight outs made it appear that nothing would come across. The middle of the order fixed that issue as Smith and Jones Coleman produced back-to-back doubles to close the gap to 4-2.

A trio of wild pitches followed to round out the inning and Starkville suddenly had the 5-4 lead.

In the second inning, Starkville pushed the lead out.

Consecutive hit batters started the frame and Cameron Sherman singled home a run. A tworun single by Smith and another wild pitch had the Starkville Stars sitting comfortably in the driver’s seat with the 9-4 lead.

Though Saltillo got a run back in the third on a bases loaded walk, Coleman saved the day with a line drive double play that ended the inning and that was the final threat that Starkville faced the rest of the afternoon.

In the game, Smith led the way with his 2-for-2 day at the plate driving in three RBI and scoring two runs. Coleman was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a double, Bailey Kosko walked in both of his plate appearances.

Looking ahead, Starkville plays Louisville at noon today in West Point with the winner advancing to Sunday’s championship.

McKee feels strongly about his pitching the rest of the way.

“We’re in good shape,” McKee said. “I don’t have any of my guys burnt so we should have everybody in our arsenal.”