TennesseeSportsNet

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. – The dates and sites of the nine Little League Southeastern Regional Tournaments for the 2013 season were announced Wednesday by the Region Headquarters office in Warner Robins, Ga.

The 2013 slate will include the newly-created Little League Intermediate 50/70 Baseball Division. It is the first new program from Little League Baseball and Softball since 1999. Spring Hill, Tenn. And District 3 will be the inaugural host for the Southeastern Region July 19-26. Spring Hill will also host the 2013 Tennessee State Tournament starting July 5th.

Big League Baseball will kick off the Southeastern Regional schedule with the annual tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. from July 12-19. District 21 will serve as the host for the eighth consecutive year.

The four Softball Regional Tournaments will follow the Big League and Intermediate Baseball Divisions. Big League Softball’s Regional Tournament will take place in Clearwater, Fla. July 24-29. District 12 serves as the host for the fourth straight season.

The Southeastern Regional Headquarters will host the Little League Softball Regional Tournament at Little League Southeast Park July 24-30. This will be the fourth year the Park will host the annual tournament after the Region office moved to Warner Robins in2010.

Ft. Myers, Fla. will play host to both the Junior and Senior League Softball Regional Tournaments July 26 to August 1. District 9 serves as the host. This will be the 13th consecutive season Ft. Myers will host the Junior League Tournament, the longest active hosting streak in the Southeastern Region. The Senior Softball Tournament will be making its third straight appearance in Ft. Myers and District 9.

The month of August means the start of the annual Little League Baseball Southeast Regional Tournament in Warner Robins. The tournament gets underway on Aug. 1 with the championship game on Aug. 9, with the winner advancing to the Little League Baseball World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.

The final two Southeastern Regional Tournaments will run from August 2-7. The Junior League Baseball Tournament will be hosted by District 7 in Greenville, S.C. for the third consecutive season. Debary, Fla. will be a first time host for the Senior League Baseball Tournament. District 19 will serve as the host.

All winners of the Southeastern Regional Tournaments will advance to their respective World Series tournaments.

The Little League Southeastern Region Headquarters includes an administrative building with training facilities plus Little League Southeast Park.

The Southeastern Region Headquarters serves eight states (West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida) and 311,700 Little League players who comprised 20,780 teams in 2012. Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.4 million players and one million adult volunteers in every U.S. state and scores of other countries.

Game schedules and more will be available at www.LittleLeague.org/South as the tournament start dates near.

Pigeon Forge trailed defending Class-AA champions Goodpasture 3-0 going into the seventh inning when lightning struck. The Tigers managed to score three times on three hits tying the Cougars.

Colt Buchanan reached on an error and got to third on a double by Drake Byrd. Buchanan later scored on a pass ball making the score 3-1 Cougars. With Byrd at third, Koleman Roach singles plating Byrd, 3-2 Goodpasture. With two outs, Jake Griffin drives in Roach to tie the game at three.

The game would move into the eighth knotted at three. The Tigers hit parade continued as Pigeon Forge scored three times on three hits.

Seth LaFollette singles up the middle followed by a hit by Wil Crowe. Buchanan sacrifices LaFollette and Crowe to third and second respectfully. Byrd (2-4) then singled down the right field line scoring both LaFollette & Crowe putting Pigeon Forge up for the first time in the game 5-3.

Crowe threw 157 pitches in the eight inning contest.
Crowe, who committed to South Carolina and who some say could go late in the first round of the NLB draft, seemed to find the plate when he needed it the most. In the 7th he allowed a two-out hit while striking out three of his 15 Ks.

The Richland Lady Raiders are just one step closer to their second (1973)TSSAA Class A Softball State Championship. Thursday the Lady Raiders beat a tough Gordonsville squad 2-0 in the winners bracket final at the Murfreesboro Sports Complex.

Richland has thrived behind the pitching of Ashton Edwards. The junior matched a TSSAA State Tournament record & set a personal best mark striking out 20 Lady Tigers. Edwards did not give up a run, but did allow two hits in her seven innings of action.

Gordonsville’s Cori Jennings struck out 10 Lady Raider hitters, but had some control problems in the third inning hitting three batters in the frame. With the bases loaded and two outs Richland’s Ashton Henderson doubled down the right field line scoring Baylee Wallace and Taylor Parker. Richland led 2-0.

The Lady Tigers managed to load the bases in the sixth, but Allyson West grounded out to first base to end the inning. And in the seventh the Lady Tigers opened with a single by Shelby Prichard, but Edwards struck out the side to end the game.

Gordonsville will face Whitwell in Friday’s 9:00am elimination game. The winner will play Richland at 2:00 for the 2013 TSSAA Class A State Softball Championship. The games will be played at the Murfreesboro Sports Complex, Starplex #4.

from Matt Daniels, SID Walters State:

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. – After a crazy beginning of the day that included Middle Georgia State being disqualified due to a technical issue, the NJCAA East Central District Baseball Tournament opened with a 6-3 victory for the Columbia State Chargers.

The Chargers never trailed, as they took an early lead and never looked back in the victory over the Georgia Perimeter Jaguars in the opening round game.

With the win, Columbia State extended their winning streak to eight games and improved to 35-19 on the season. The Chargers will take on Walters State on Friday morning at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing to the championship game.

The loss drops the Jaguars to 37-20 on the season and into an elimination game at 3 p.m. Friday against the loser of the opening game of the day.

The Chargers squandered a chance to score in the first inning after loading the bases with one out, but Georgia Perimeter pitcher Sam Bragg struck out the next two batters to retire the side with no damage done.

Bragg wasn’t as lucky in the second inning. After recording two outs, Caleb Warnimont singled against Bragg and moved to third when Dustin Delgado struck out but reached on a throwing error by the catcher. Wes Neiderland followed with an RBI single, giving Columbia State a 1-0 lead.

The Chargers extended the lead quickly in the top of the third. TJ Diffenderfer ripped a double off the wall in right center and scored on a double to the left center gap by Desi Ammons to make it 2-0.

The Jaguars got on the board in the bottom half of the third and cut the deficit in half. Cody McCance singled to lead off the frame and scored on an error when Pierce Ressmeyer grounded into a fielder’s choice to trim the lead to 2-1.

The Chargers added to their lead in the top of the sixth. Warnimont singled and stole second with one out and scored on an RBI single by Scott Gibson to increase the margin to 3-1.

The Jaguars once again cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Drew Adler reached on a fielder’s choice before Matt Taylor singled and Erik Davis drew a walk to load the bases. Stephen Mason followed with a walk to cut the deficit to 3-2, but they could not get another run across in the frame.

Columbia State pushed runs across in the seventh and eighth innings, as Ronnie Jebavy slapped an RBI single in the seventh while Josh Wilson and Warnimont both added run scoring base hits in the eighth to build the lead to 6-2.

The Jaguars mounted one last rally, scoring a run in the ninth on a grounder to make the final score 6-3.

Warnimont led the Chargers with three hits, while Neiderland, Jebavy and Ammons had two hits each in the win.

Lucas Laster (7-2) was the winning pitcher after allowing two runs – one earned – on seven hits in six-plus innings. Kierce Kimbel picked up his first save after allowing only one earned run on three hits in three innings of relief.

McCance belted three hits while Trumon Jefferson and Wes Armstrong both added two hits in the defeat.

Sam Bragg (7-5) was tagged with the loss after surrendering three runs – two earned – on eight hits in six innings.

The Middle Georgia Warriors received some bad news Thursday morning, just prior to throwing out the first pitch against the Chargers of Columbia State.
Tournament officials discovered that Middle Georgia had used an ineligible player during the GCAA Region 17 Tournament. Region VII Tennessee commissioner Bobby Hudson told TSN they received word from the headquarters of the NJCAA to strike the Warriors from the tournament.
The NJCAA East Central tourney will now consist of three teams, Columbia State, Walters State of Tennessee’s Region VII and Georgia Perimeter of Region 17.
The first game now set for 3pm est/ 2 central today between Columbia State and Georgia Perimeter, with only one game being player Thursday.
The winner plays host Walters State at 11am est 10cdt Friday.
TennesseeSportsNet will have all of the Chargers action LIVE from Morristown.