Boynton Red Sox win 14U Division at Honeycutt World Series
The 14-year-old Boynton Red Sox came to the Rick Honeycutt World Series with a chip on their shoulder after coming up one win shy of taking home the Dizzy Dean World Series championship in Mississippi two weeks ago.
They wouldn’t settle for second place this time around.
The 2017 Georgia State Dizzy Dean champs went 2-1 in pool play before winning their two bracket games to claim the 14U Rick Honeycutt title at the Jack Mattox Complex in Ringgold last Monday afternoon.
After losing to the East Ridge Braves in pool play last Saturday morning, the Red Sox faced the Braves in the finals and took care of business with a dominating victory.
East Ridge had handed Boynton a 4-1 loss in the tournament opener, but the Red Sox bounced back to beat the Rossville Renegades (5-0) and Red Bank (71) to wrap up pool play and claim the No. 2 seed.
They would face Red Bank in a rematch on Monday morning and despite recording 17 of the 18 outs via strikes, the Sox still needed a run in their final at-bat to claim a 2-1 win.
Hayden James got the sixth-inning rally going with a leadoff single before swiping second. He moved to third on a grounder off the bat of McCain Mangum and trotted home after clean-up hitter Asa Cleghorn doubled to right field for the game-winning RBI.
James collected eight strikeouts in the win. Cleghorn had six and Mangum came through with three in one inning of work.
They would meet up with the Braves in a winner-take-all final and Boynton, playing as the home team, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Leadoff hitter Caden Snyder led off the game with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scooted home as the throw to third sailed wide of the bag.
Boynton would blow the game wide open with a six-run third inning. Snyder provided the power with a gargantuan two-run homer to dead center field that landed on an embankment some 30-40 feet past the fence.
The Sox would take advantage of three walks, two errors and two hit batsmen in the frame. Cleghorn brought in a run with a squeeze bunt and Mike Stokes delivered a clutch twoout, two-strike RBIsingle back through the box. Two more runs came home as the result of errors.
One final run in the fourth would be all the Sox needed. James beat out an infield single to begin the inning and promptly stole second and third before scoring on Mangum’s RBIsingle.
Mangum handled the rest from the mound. He got the start and allowed just two hits while fanning nine hitters in four innings. The game was called after the end of the fourth due to the run rule with Boynton up 8-0.
Barons, Raiders finish second
The championship won by the Red Sox turned out to be the only title claimed by teams from Walker and Catoosa Counties.
The 6U Boynton Barons and 7U Ringgold Raiders both played for championships in Fort Oglethorpe last Tuesday night, but both were forced to settle for runner-up finishes.
The more thrilling of the two games took place on Field 1 as the Barons squared off with the Harrison Express in an intense battle between two teams that have met several times over the past three months, including a 7-6 win by the Barons in pool play last Sunday.
Boynton earned the bid to the finals after beating the East Brainerd Lightning, 10-4, in the semifinals earlier Tuesday evening. The Barons would score twice in the top of the fourth inning to pull in front of the Express, 3-2, but the Dizzy Dean Tennessee state champions would respond with six runs in the bottom of the frame to take an 8-3 lead with two innings left in regulation.
However, the Barons refused to fold and put up their limit of seven runs in the top of the fifth to regain a 10-8 lead. Harrison threatened in the home half of the inning, but Boynton second baseman Liam Heatherly would snare a line drive and throw to Henry Nance at first to double up the runner and complete the inning-ending twin killing.
The Barons tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth, only to see Harrison score three times to tie the game. However, Boynton made all three outs at third base, twice tagging out runners who strayed too far off the bag to send the game to extras.
Boynton looked to draw first blood in the top of the seventh, but the Express were able to throw out a runner at home on a close play at the plate to preserve the 11-11 tie. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Harrison would plate the game-winner with just one out.
The Barons, who went 3-1 in pool play, finished the tournament with a 6-2 record.
There wasn’t as much drama in the 7U title game as the South Cherokee All-Stars capped a 6-0 run in the tournament with a 10-2 victory over the Raiders. Ringgold finished with a 5-2 overall mark after a 3-1 record in pool play.
The LaFayette Rangers were looking to advance to the finals in the 8U division, scoring twice in the top of the fifth inning to take a 3-1 lead over Locos Baseball. However, the Locos scored five times a half-inning later to take a 6-3 win in the semifinals.
Locos went on to beat the Monsters, 12-10, in the title game.
Two more division titles were decided on Tuesday. In the 11U division, the Harrison Titans claimed a 10-6 win over the Snow Hill Hawks and the Hobgood Heat scored a 7-4 victory over the Rome Longhorns in the 12U division.
The finals of the 10U division were held last Wednesday night with the Canton Noles holding off the Snow Hill Snipers, 6-5. Canton eliminated the Rock Spring Spartans in a Tuesday night semifinal, 11-3.