Dixie youth tourneys begin

This past weekend marked the beginning of the Dixie Youth softball district tournaments and several Amherst County teams competed for the chance to play in upcoming state tournaments.

The Amherst American Darlings team, made up of players 7 to 9, dominated the early games of the District 2 tournament held at Rustburg High School. The team is the lone undefeated squad left in the double elimination tournament that began on Friday.

The Amherst American team had a bye on Friday and defeated Timberlake 22-10 on Saturday. The Amherst Nationals team won 12-8 on Sunday to clinch a spot in Tuesday’s championship game/games if necessary. The Amherst Nationals beat Timberlake Monday and has swept two games from the Amherst American team to claim the spot in the state tournament that begins July 17 in Lunenburg.

Manager Tim Hoden credited his team’s defense as making the difference in the tournament.

“The 12-8 game (against the Amherst American team) was the first game in which a team was held to fewer than 20 runs,” Hoden said. “Our infield defense has been exceptional.”

The team’s infielders are Abigail Downey, Sydney Keesee, Tamiyah Megginson, Savannah Wood and Abby Hoden.

“All my girls have played really, really good defense,” Hoden said. “The competition has been really good and I expect us to face the Amherst Nationals and I expect to be in another backyard brawl.”

The Amherst Nationals, Angels team, made up of 9- and 10-year-olds, were playing in the double-elimination District 2 tournament at Appomattox and dropped their first game 11-1 on Friday night to Rustburg. Rayven Claytor scored the American’s run and Sarah Coleman had the RBI for Amherst.

On Saturday, the Amherst Nationals team defeated the Amherst American team 11-9 in extra innings to avoid elimination for the first time. The Nationals outscored the Americans 5-3 in the sixth and final inning to secure the victory. Coleman earned the win on the mound, going the distance while striking out 11 batters. Tayler Hill was 3-for-3 and Brittany Mays was 2-for-2 for the Nationals.

Then the Nationals knocked off Lynchburg 28-17 on Sunday to avoid elimination for the second time. MacKenzie Cash had two hits and two RBIs, Claytor was 3-for-4, Sarah Wells was 3-for-3 and Sadie Butler drew four walks and scored four runs to lead the way for the Nationals.

On Monday, the Nationals were eliminated by Rustburg 6-1. The Nationals were led by Tatianna Fleshman, who threw three innings of relief and allowed just one unearned run while striking out five. Cash drew a pair of walks and scored the Nationals run. Coleman was 1-for-2 with a double and drove in the Nationals run. Ashley Speck was 2-for-2.

“We had a pretty good tournament,” manager Troy Cash said. “This pretty much the same group of girls that we had last year and went 0-2. The good news is we will return most of these girls next year and hopefully this is something we can build off of for next year.

“We had a really great group of girls and the parents were really supportive,” he said.