Bartow LL 12U baseball tops Cartersville to reach district finals; Bartow 10U wins at GRPA state

The Bartow County Little League 12U baseball team moved into the championship round of the Georgia District 1 Tournament with a 12-2 win over Cartersville Little League in five innings Tuesday night at Hamilton Crossing Park.

Bartow 12U is now one win away from winning the double-elimination tournament.

Bartow opened the scoring with a six-run second inning then added on two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth inning. Cartersville pushed its two runs across in the third inning.

A trio of Bartow pitcher combined for 14 strikeouts in the victory. Raiden Sexton fanned six in the first two innings. McCayden Hufstetler struck out five in the next two frames and Drazen Jones struck out the side in the fifth inning.

Hufstetler finished with three hits including a pair of doubles. Jones had two hits. Rush Faulk contributed two hits including a homer while Zaylen Cochran, Drew Nida, Hayden Miller, and Sexton (triple) added base hits.

For Cartersville, Dallen Fuqua had a second inning single and Zach Stiles added a base hit in the third inning.

With the tournament now moving back to Dean Field in Rockmart, Cartersville plays an elimination game Wednesday night at 6 p.m. against Rockmart. The winner will then face Bartow County Thursday night for the championship and will need two wins to take the district crown.

BARTOW 10U BASEBALL CRUISES TO FIRST ROUND WIN AT GRPA STATE TOURNAMENT

The Bartow County 10U team cruised to a 12-0 opening round win Tuesday night at the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association State Tournament in Bainbridge.

Bartow 10U starting pitcher Houston Walden tossed a complete game, two hit shutout in the four inning victory. He walked five and struck out five. Meanwhile, the Bartow offense rattled off eleven hits in four frames and scored in every inning.

Cade McCorkle led the Bartow 10U offense with three hits including a double and three RBIs. Maddox Koontz also had a three hit game with one RBI. Brodie Gardner had two hits including a double and two RBIs. Noah Rogers contributed a double and two RBIs. Walden tossed in two RBIs with a hit and Leroy Watts added one base hit. Will Whitman and Joseph Frederick were both credited with one RBI.

Bartow advances to the second round Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. to play Grady County. The winner of that game will move into the winner’s bracket final on Thursday. The loser must play an elimination game Wednesday afternoon.

CARTERSVILLE GOLD 8U COACH PITCH DROPS OPENING GAME AT STATE TOURNEY

The Cartersville Gold 8U Coach Pitch team lost its first game at the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association State Tournament in Gainesville Tuesday night, falling to Jackson County 10-8. Cartersville Gold 8U led 2-0 early and 5-1 in the top of the third inning but the lead would not last. Jackson County answered with nine combined runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to build a 9-6 lead and held on to win by two. Jon Ryder Myers and Connor Murphy paced the Cartersville Gold offense with three hits and one RBI each. Evan Blankenberger had two hits with two RBIs. Colby McMillan had two hits including a triple and one RBI. Weston Shirley and Micah Mitcham finished with two hits including a double and RBI each. RJ Perkins totaled two hits including a triple. Bentley Duren contributed one hit and one RBI while Linkoln Crump, Tate Warlick, and Jack Turner added one hit apiece.

Jackson County advances in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament to play Crisp County Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. at Lanier Point Park.

Cartersville, now in the loser’s bracket, will play Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. against the Calhoun/Gainesville loser — also at Lanier Point Park. The winner of that game will play again at 1 p.m. Wednesday in an elimination game.

Information for local Little League softball and baseball updates along with updates from Georgia Recreation and Parks Association baseball and softball tournaments are provided by the Cartersville and Bartow County Recreation Departments and the respective Little League Baseball and Softball organizations. The updates are presented by CiCi's of Cartersville located in the Cherokee Crossing shopping center.