By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
July 14, 2003
The Meridian All-Stars continued to use strong pitching to roll into the finals of the 11-Year-Old Babe Ruth State Tournament being played in Long Beach.
Meridian used a combined no-hitter to beat Booneville 10-0 on Saturday, then tossed a combined one-hitter to blank North Jackson 12-0 on Sunday.
Meridian is in today's championship game against the either Vicksburg, North Jackson or Long Beach. The challenger has to beat Meridian twice in order to win the title. Meridian only needs one win.
Win or lose, Meridian has already qualified to advance to the Regionals in Eagle Pass, Texas.
So far in the tournament Meridian has outscored its opponents 28-0 and have out-hit them 31-4.
Meridian scored eight runs in the third inning in Saturday's win over Booneville. Caleb Melton had a single, double, drove in one run and scored three others to lead the Meridian offensive attack. Witt Haggard had two singles and two RBIs.
Andrew Blaine added two singles for the winners, who had 10 total hits. Michael Sterling, Davis Tucker, Lane Hillard and Tyi Edmonds each had an RBI each for the winners.
Tucker pitched three innings, striking out five and walking one, while Matt Ware, struck out two and walked one in one inning of work in the game that was shortened by the run rule after just four innings.
In Sunday's game of undefeated teams, Meridian scored four runs in the fourth and seven more in the fifth to break open a 1-0 game and roll to the win over North Jackson.
Sterling led Meridian offensively in the game, ripped two singles and driving in a run, while Melton had a double and two RBIs. Haggard had a single and two RBIs, while Sam Daniel had a single and an RBI.
Haggard pitched four innings, striking out eight, walking none and allowing just one hit to pick up the win on the mound for Meridian. Ware pitched the last inning, walking one and striking out one as Meridian again won by the run rule.