Cartersville Little League Rookie, Sandlot teams win Georgia District 1 titles
The Cartersville Little League Rookie level and Sandlot level teams won Georgia Little League District 1 titles over the holiday weekend. The 8U Cartersville Rookie League team defeated Rockmart in a best-of-three series, while the 9U Cartersville Sandlot team won with a two-game sweep of the Bartow County Little League Sandlot team.
Cartersville Little League wins District 1 Rookie level championship
The Cartersville Little League Rookie League team (8U) won the Georgia Little League District 1 championship Monday by edging visiting Rockmart 13-12 in the rubber game of their best-of-three title series.
Not only was the title game a back-and-forth affair, but so was the entire series.
Rockmart won the series opener on Saturday 9-7, with Cartersville forcing a third game with an 11-2 win in Game 2 Sunday.
In the third game of the series Monday, Rockmart held a 2-1 lead after one inning and led 12-9 going into Cartersville’s final at-bat. The locals had an answer, however, and scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the district title with a 13-12 walk-off victory.
Blake Genrich — who also pitched two and two-thirds innings and allowed only one hit — smacked a double into centerfield to score Brandt Rutledge with the go-ahead run. Genrich finished the day with three hits.
“The boys really played well defensively,” said Cartersville Purple head coach Nick Wade. “We know we have some work to do going into the sectionals next weekend, but I was please with the way the boys reacted when they were down.”
Cartersville pitchers Parker Huth and Rutledge each retired four outs each to close out the victory Monday. Avery Slye, Price Startup, and River Wade also pitched for Cartersville during the three-game series.
Genrich completed the series with five hits and six RBI. Rutledge and Braden Slocumb contributed a pair of hits apiece. John Brady Nichols, Drake Bailey, Startup, and Wade each added one hit. Mason Davis drove in two runs.
Other members of the Cartersville 8U team include Andy Holstein, Brody Jones, and Ty King. The assistant coaches are Drew Startup and Joe Slye.
Both Cartersville and Rockmart will advance to the Rookie Northwest Georgia Sectional Championship at Smyrna Little League this weekend.
Cartersville Little League tops Bartow County Little League to win District 1 Sandlot title
The Cartersville Little League Sandlot team (9U) captured the Georgia Little League District 1 championship Sunday by completing a two-game, best-of-three series sweep over Bartow County Little League.
Cartersville won 13-7 on Saturday and 17-10 Sunday.
Both teams will advance to the Northwest Georgia Sectional Championship hosted by Cartersville Little League that begins Saturday.
Cartersville 9U manager David Henson credited the pitching of Clint Hosea, Westin Barfield, and Dallen Fuqua as leading his team to the series win over Bartow County. Zach Hall was the Cartersville’s leading hitter.
In addition to those mentioned, the Cartersville 9U roster includes Cole Henson, Dixon Lindsey, Blake Lutjens, Payton Paul, Cash Priest, Noah Cagle, Ben Cagle, and Garrett Hewlett.
Assistant coaches for Cartersville include Brian Barfield, Jay Paul, Dewayne Fuqua, and Chris Hall.
The Bartow County Little League sandlot team played the District 1 playoff series on the heels of wrapping up the league’s season and playoffs last Thursday.
“We were only able to practice twice as a team prior to the playoffs,” noted Bartow manager Wade Wilson. “We didn’t win, but I’m optimistic about what we can do once we get to the Sectionals and have some practice time together. We showed a lot of grit and fight in that last game. We were down 10-0 and battled back to tie it in the next to last inning.”
Wilson credited pitchers Jabari Burleson, Preston Hazelwood, and McCayden Hufstetler for their work on the mound in the District playoff. Weston Wilson, Zaylen Cochran, and William Wilson were noted as the team’s top hitters.
Other members of the Bartow County sandlot team include: Maddox Raughton, Cooper Reynolds, Jayce Little, Tavaris Burleson, Braxton Elrod, and Taylor Hicks. Assistant coaches are Jonathan Raughton and Tony Hufstetler.
Cartersville Sandlot 9U opens the five-team, double-elimination Sectional Tournament at Smyrna Little League Saturday at 10 a.m. against Smyrna Blue. Bartow County Sandlot 9U willl play the winner of that game Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Cartersville Rookie League team, who is hosting the Northwest Georgia Sectional Tournament, also begins play Saturday. Game time assignment will be determined at a meeting this week.
In other recent Cartersville Little League news, the Indians won the 2018 major league playoffs. Link to results: Click Here. The Indians' roster, managed by Landon Adams with assistant coaches Jay Frazier and Geoff Shrewsbury, includes: Weston Chatman, Dawson Bishop, Owen Dunn, Logan Shrewsbury, Gavin Shrewsbury, Drew Perry, Jackson Harwell, Cooper Adams, Lucas Henry, Andrew Lutjens, Maddox Frazier, and Maverick Madonna.
NOTE: Pitching data not provided for all BCLL games. Games not completed or not posted on the respective leagues' GameChanger sites are not included, but will be added to future posts when made available.
Bartow County Little League and Cartersville Little League capsules and game results are provided to BartowSportsZone.com by the two leagues and are sponsored on Bartow Sports Zone by Play It Again Sports at 410 Cherokee Place in Cartersville.
