Bartow 14U baseball all-stars capture Dizzy Dean district title

The 14U Bartow all-stars captured the Dizzy Dean District 3 Championship Monday night at Legion Field in Canton. Bartow won three straight games in the double-elimination tournament to claim the title. They defeated Hobgood Heat (13-3), North Cherokee (15-14), and the Sandy Plains Cougars (16-6) on their way to the championship. After an opening round win over the Hobgood Heat, Bartow found themselves trailing late against North Cherokee. The locals scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 15-14 lead and Tyler Strickland tossed a shutout seventh inning to preserve the win and advance Bartow to the championship round. In the finals, Bartow took an early lead and extended it to ten for a run-rule, five inning win. Wade Conduff and Strickland led the Bartow bats with six hits each as the locals batted .481 as a team during the tournament. Jayden Brown added five hits that included a triple and Dawson Hamby totaled four hits for Bartow, including a double and an inside-the-park home run. Trent Porter carried much of the workload on the mound for Bartow during the tournament. He worked 12 innings and totaled 15 strikeouts while picking up a pair of wins. Hamby pitched three innings and collected a pair of strikeouts. Strickland also worked two innings on the mound. The district tournament win qualifies the 14U Bartow all-stars for the state tournament that opens June 24 at Sandy Plains. NOTE: Report provided by BCRD.