Cartersville Little League 10U teams win district tourney openers

Both Cartersville Little League 10U all star team won their Georgia Little League District 1 openers Saturday (June 27) at Joe Frank Harris Field in Atco. The Cartersville Purple 10U all stars beat Rome 13-3 in five innings, while Cartersville Gold 10U edged Rockmart, 5-4. Cartersville Little League is hosting the Georgia Little League District 1 tournament through Thursday, July 2 at Joe Frank Harris and Rudy York Fields. Cartersville Purple scored five runs in the fifth to put their game away on RBI singles by Isaac McNair-Seigler, Will Litton, and Brice Craig; a walk by JaKiyon Porter; and a single by Paul Gamble. Trip Bradley was 4-for-4 for Cartersville Purple. He doubled in the third inning and singled in the first, fourth, and fifth innings. McNair-Seigler was masterful on the mound in 3 and 2/3 innings of work for Purple 10U. Rome managed just one hit and no earned runs during his stint on the mound. He allowed two walks and struck out seven. Thomas Norris (1H, 2ER, 3BB) pitched an inning for Purple and Will Litton (1H, 1ER, 3BB, 1K) pitched 1/3 of an inning. Bradley singled to score Porter, Gamble scored on a groundout by Hunter Kelly, and Bradley crossed the plate on a single by A.J. Christina as Cartersville Purple jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Rome tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the second, but Cartersville Purple answered with ten runs over the next three frames to put the game away. Cartersville Purple out-hit Rome 15-3 in both teams' tournament opener. In the second 10U District 1 game Saturday, Cartersville Gold came-from-behind to knock off Rockmart, 5-4. Cartersville Gold tied the game in the fourth inning on a two-run triple by Kaden Stephenson then held off Rockmart down the stretch before Stephenson delivered a game winning hit. Stephenson finished the day with three RBI on a pair of hits. Rockmart 10U jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first and added a run in the third to take a 4-0 advantage. Cartersville Gold responded with a four run fourth to tie. Brody Tidwell had a sacrifice fly, Chandler Mathison drove in a run with a single, and Stephenson hit his 2-RBI triple completed the fourth inning rally. Silas Freeman led off the inning with a single. In the bottom of the sixth, Jack Chatman singled to left field and Collin Genrich walked with one out before Stephenson's infield single to deep short scored Chatman with the game winner. Knox Neal (2H, 3ER, 2BB), Freeman (3.2IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 8K), and Tidwell (2.1IP, 1H, 1BB, 3K) saw time on the mound for Cartersville Gold. Pool play in the District 1 10U tournament continues Sunday when Cartersville Purple plays Rockmart at 2pm and Cartersville Gold takes on Rome at 4pm. Both 10U games will be played at Joe Frank Harris Field. Pool play wraps up Monday night (June 29) as Rockmart and Rome square off at 6pm, followed by a game between the two Cartersville teams at 8:30pm. The pool play winner and the pool runner-up will play a 3-game series beginning Tuesday (June 30) to determine the District 1 championship. Game 2 of the championship series will be Wednesday night. If a third game is needed, it will be Thursday night. All three games of the 10U District 1 championship series are scheduled for Rudy York Field at 6pm.

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