Bartow County Junior Little League finishes as state runner-up
Bartow County Junior Little League (14u) survived four consecutive elimination games at the Georgia Junior Little League state tournament and forced a winner-take-all title game Thursday night in Athens, but came up short in the deciding game with Elbert County Junior Little League.
Needing to win twice Thursday night, Bartow County won the championship round opener 2-1 but fell in the nightcap, 19-9.
Elbert County raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings of the second game, but Bartow scored six times in the top of the third to knot the score 6-6.
From that point, however, Elbert outscored Bartow 13-3 to close out the win and capture the state title with a victory in five innings.
Bartow pitching struggled in the nightcap, issuing 16 walks and hitting seven batters. Elbert needed only six hits to cash in 19 runs.
Patrick Shelley, Harrison Benton, and Wade Dooley (RBI) had two hits each for Bartow. Colton Wilson (double, RBI) and Brice Craig (2 RBI) had the other Bartow base hits. Brandon Carroll, Charlie Ray, and Devin Pryor each added one RBI.
BARTOW 2, ELBERT 1
Wade Dooley tossed a complete-game, two-hitter Thursday night in the opening game of the Georgia Junior Little League state tournament championship round to lead Bartow past Elbert 2-1.
Dooley struck out two and walk three while keeping Elbert County off the scoreboard until the sixth inning.
Bartow scored their two runs in the first inning. Shelley, Wilson, and Benton all had hits in the frame.
Shelley added a seventh inning single for a two-hit game. Craig contributed a pair of hits and Pryor also had one hit.
Bartow County Junior Little League finished 4-2 in the state tournament and Georgia runner-up.
Elbert County advances to the Junior Little League Baseball Southeast Regional that begins August 2 in Fort Myers, FL.
Georgia Junior Little League State Tournament schedule/results:
Double-elimination at East Athens Little League
Sat. July 14 — West Point 5, Bartow County 1
Sat. July 14 — Athens 16, Northern-Columbus 12
Sun. July 15 — Vine Ingle 12, West Point 6
Sun. July 15 — Elbert County 11, Athens 0
Mon. July 16 — Bartow County 10, Athens 4 (Athens eliminated)
Mon. July 16 — West Point 17, Northern-Columbus 1 (Northern eliminated)
Tue. July 17 — Elbert Co. 17, Vine Ingle 1
Tue. July 17 — Bartow County 7, West Point 4 (West Point eliminated)
Wed. July 18 — Bartow County 11, Vine Ingle 2 (Vine Ingle eliminated)
Thr. July 19 — Bartow County 2, Elbert Co. 1 (championship round)
Thr. July 19 — Elbert County 19, Bartow County 9 (Elbert wins state championship)
Results for Bartow County Little League and Cartersville Little League provided by the respective leagues and Georgia Little League Baseball and Softball. Bartow County Recreation Department and Cartersville Recreation Department baseball and softball teams participating in Georgia Recreation and Parks Association are reported to Bartow Sports Zone by the respective recreation departments and presented on Bartow Sports Zone by Play It Again Sports at 410 Cherokee Place in Cartersville
