Cartersville Little League 12U wins District 1 opener
Cartersville Little League 12U broke open a 1-1 game Saturday morning at Hamilton Crossing Park with a six-run bottom of the third inning to take the opening game of the Georgia Little League District 1 tournament over host Bartow County, 7-2.
Cartersville loaded the bases in the third inning on a double by Caleb Daniel, a single by Miles Owen, and a hit-by-pitch that put Aiden Ray on first base. Gavin Shrewsbury drew a bases loaded walk to give Cartersville a 2-1 lead and that was followed by a two-run single by Connor Brasfield and a three-run home run by Turner Abernathy for a 7-1 advantage.
Bartow County scored a fourth inning run on a ground out RBI by David Jinks, but that would be all the scoring for the hosts as six different Cartersville pitchers combined to strikeout 15, yield no earned runs, and allowed only two hits.
Owen (2.1 IP, 1R, 0ER, 0H, 3BB, 7K) started on the mound for Cartersville and did not allow a hit, but it was Geoffrey Gore (1.2 IP, 1R, 0ER, 0H, 0BB, 3K) who benefited from Cartersville's big offensive inning. Gore completed the third and fourth frames on the bump to earn the win. Sawyer Wilson (0.1 IP, 0ER, 1H, 1BB, 1K), Brasfield (1 IP, 0R, 0H, 1BB, 3K), Landon Heath (0.1 IP), and Grant Knight (0.1 IP, 0R, 1H, 1BB, 1K) all took the mound for Cartersville over the final two innings.
Cadyn Wade (2 IP, 7ER, 6H, 3BB, 2K) started and suffered the pitching loss for Bartow County. David Kelley (3 IP, 0R, 1H, 0BB, 5K) retired the final nine outs.
Both teams scored single runs in the first inning.
Bartow took advantage of a pair of walks and Hayden Blalock eventually scored on a passed ball for an early 1-0 lead. Cartersville tied the game in the bottom of the frame when Daniel walked, moved to third on a passed ball and a ground out, and then scored on a wild pitch.
Mason Williams and Colton Tucker had the two Bartow County base hits.
Abernathy’s three-run homer and a two-RBI single by Brasfield accounted for five of Cartersville’s runs to pace the offense. Shrewsbury added an RBI single. Gore and Daniel both contributed doubles. Easton Elrod and Owen tossed in one hit apiece.
Cartersville (1-0) advances to play Rockmart (0-0) Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m as the three-team, double-elimination tournament continues.
Bartow County (0-1) will play an elimination game Monday night at 6 p.m. against the Cartersville/Rockmart loser.
Georgia Little League District 1
12U Baseball
at Hamilton Crossing Park
GM 1 — Saturday, June 23 — Cartersville 7, Bartow County 2
GM 2 — Sunday, June 24 — 4 p.m. — Rockmart vs. Cartersville
GM 3 — Monday, June 25 — 6 p.m. — Bartow County vs. Rockmart/Cartersville loser
GM 4 — Tuesday, June 26 — 6:30 p.m. — Rockmart/Cartersville winner vs. GM 3 winner
GM 5 (if needed) — Wednesday, June 27 — 6:30 p.m. — Rockmart/Cartersville winner vs. GM 3 winner
Local team rosters:
Bartow County Little League 12U: Cameron Adams, Hayden Blalock, Israel Contreras, Dawson Craig, David Jinks, David Kelley, Dylan Moulton, Landon O'Neal, Kaiden Pirkle, Andrew Stiles, Colton Tucker, Cadyn Wade, and Mason Williams.
Cartersville Little League 12U: Turner Abernathy, Connor Brasfield, Caleb Daniel, Easton Elrod, Geoffrey Gore, Landon Heath, Grant Knight, Miles Owen, Trenton Payne, Aiden Ray, Gavin Shrewsbury, Connor Stermer, and Sawyer Wilson. Manager: Richard Daniel. Coaches: Carl Abernathy, Joe Owen.
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.
