TROY — The West Chatham 8U All-Stars opened up District 1 play in the 2019 Dixie Youth Baseball Tournament with a pair of wins.
The local bunch captured a dominating 16-1 triumph in its opener over Anson County on Friday night before taking a 14-4 decision over Albemarle on Saturday evening.
In the opener, Cooper Smith and Austin Morgan both went 3-for-3 to help spark West Chatham to a convincing 14-1 rout of Anson County.
The locals got on the board in the top of the first with five runs and never looked back in the three inning win.
Smith and Morgan started things off in the early uprising with singles before Jennings Russell, and Tanner Nall ripped RBI-singles, Jackson Clark a two-run double, and Clark later scoring on an RBI-single from Ridge Hicks.
The 5-0 advantage grew to 9-0 in the second when West Chatham sent across four more runs ignited by leadoff singles from Joshua Dean and Hayden Dark before Smith belted an RBI-single, Morgan a two-run double, and Nall an RBI-single to close out the onslaught.
Anson County tallied its lone run of the night in the home half of the 2nd when Jase Ratliff singled and later scored on an double by Daniel Wnimant.
West Chatham closed out the win in the third, however, with seven more runs highlighted by eight consecutive base hits to lead off the frame by Anderson Paige, Jameson Douglas, Hicks, Bryson Green, Dean, Dark, Morgan and Smith, and capped by a double from Russell who later scored to make the final 17-1.
Morgan added a double and three runs to his three hits while Smith tallied a pair of runs.
Adding a 2-for-3 effort with a double and two runs was Russell while Nall was 2-for-3 with a run, Dark 2-for-2 with two runs, Hicks and Dean 2-for-2 with a run, Clark 1-for-2 with a double, and Paige, Douglas and Green 1-for-2 with a run.
In the 14-4 victory over Albemarle on Saturday evening the locals trailed 4-1 heading into the fourth before erupting for seven runs in the fourth, and three runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to storm back for the win.
Paige and Dark had big days at the plate with 3-for-3 efforts with a run while Nall was also 3-for-3, and Smith 3-for-4 with three runs.
Smith singled in the first and scored on a Nall double to give West Chatham a 1-0 lead early before Albemarle answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame behind a single from Nic Cupples, a double from Andrew Hager, and consecutive base hits from Bentley Parker, Brady Eudy and Nolan Gabrych.
After tacking on single runs in the second and third innings to go ahead 4-1, Albemarle felt the wrath of the West Chatham bunch in the form of a seven-run uprising that included singles from Dark, Smith, Morgan, Russell, Nall, Baxter, Clark, Paige, and Hicks, and a double from Douglas.
Leading 8-4, West Chatham added three more runs in the fifth to go up 11-4 behind base hits from Dean, Dark, Smith, Morgan and Russell.
Paige, Douglas, Hicks, Green, Dean and Dark all slapped base hits in the top of the sixth as part of another three-run uprising for the locals to cap the 14-4 victory.
Douglas was 2-for-3 with two runs and a double, and Morgan, Russell, Clark, Hicks, and Dean all went 2-for-3 with a run for West Chatham, and Green was 1-for-3 with a run and a double, and Harrison Baxter 1-for-3 with a run.