Cartersville Little League 9U tops Bartow County; CLL 8U reaches Northwest Sectional finals
The Cartersville Little League Sandlot team (9U) took advantage of 13 walks and five defensive miscues Monday night to defeat Bartow County Little League (9U) 13-3 at Rudy York Field. The Georgia Little League Northwest Georgia Sandlot Sectional win advances Cartersville to another elimination game Tuesday night.
In Monday's victory, Cartersville scored in every offensive frame and only had one hit in the game.
Although Bartow County scored first, Cartersville held a 3-1 lead after one inning before Bartow narrowed the margin to 4-3 in the top of the third. From there Cartersville scored nine unanswered runs to close out the game in the fourth inning.
Blake Lutjens tossed a complete game to earn the pitching win for Cartersville. He gave up a pair of earned runs on three hits and one walk. Lutjens fanned five and worked ahead in the count throwing 13 first pitch strikes to the 17 batters he faced.
Garrett Hewlett had Cartersville’s only hit. Dallen Fuqua walked three times and drove in three runs at the top of the Cartersville order.
Cartersville also stole eight bases, led by Fuqua with three. Westing Barfield and Payton Paul both swiped two bags and Cash Priest stole a base.
Cooper Reynolds had two hits, including a double and one RBI to pace the Bartow County offense. Taylor Hicks also had a base hit. Zaylen Cochran added one RBI. McCayden Hufstetler and Braxton Elrod each stole a base for Bartow.
Bartow pitchers Jabari Burleson (2.2 IP, 8R, 1ER, 1H, 5BB, 2K), Reynolds (0.1 IP, 0R, 0H, 2BB, 1K), Maddox Raughton (0.2 IP, 5ER, 0H, 6BB, 1K), and Weston Wilson combined to allow only one hit, but walked 13 while striking out four.
The loss eliminates Bartow County who finished 0-2 in the tournament.
Cartersville, now 2-1 in the tournament, plays Monday’s Smyrna Red vs. Smyrna Blue loser in another elimination game Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Rudy York Field. The winner of Cartersville's Tuesday game will reach the championship round with one loss to face Monday's Smyrna Red/Smyrna Blue winner.
CARTERSVILLE LITTLE LEAGUE 8U REACHES SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
The Cartersville Little League Rookie level (8U) defeated Smyrna Little League Red 8U Monday night 11-9 to advance to the championship round of the Northwest Georgia Sectional Tournament at Smyrna Little League.
Cartersville, who defeated Smyrna Red Saturday in the opening round also, took an 8-0 lead through two innings Monday night only to have Smyrna stay in contention with a five-run third inning.
The locals pushed their lead to 11-5 in the top of the fifth and held off another threat by Smyrna in the bottom of the fifth for a two-run victory.
Three Cartersville pitchers combined for nine strikeouts. Blake Genrich (3.1 IP, 5R, 1ER, 4H, 3BB, 5K) picked up the pitching win. River Wade (1 IP, 4ER, 1H, 3BB, 2K) and Avery Slye (0.2 IP, 0R, 1H, 0BB, 2K) closed out the contest.
Genrich had a hit, walk twice, scored twice, stole a base and drove in two runs for Cartersville. Mason Davis had one hit and one RBI. Wade doubled for the game’s only extra base hit. Slye walked twice and had one RBI. Andy Holstein added one walk and one RBI. John Brady Nichols and Price Startup each stole a base.
Cartersville reaches the championship round with one loss to play Smyrna Little League Blue (8U) Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Smyrna Little League. Cartersville must win to force a second championship game Wednesday in the double-elimination tournament.
Bartow County Little League and Cartersville Little League 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.
