Franklin County Times

MOULTON — The Russellville 12 and Under All-Stars got off to an inauspicious start against host Moulton in a Dixie Youth tournament game Monday night.

Things turned around eventually, and the Golden Tigers picked up a 12-2 win.

There was controversy involved with the game before the opening pitch was thrown. Houston Kitterman, the Golden Tigers’ shortstop, was on the wrong side of an unexpected throw during pregame warm-ups.

The throw struck Kitterman in the head, but seemed to do only “cosmetic” damage. The three umpires of the game, however, had a different opinion of the incident.

The officials said that Kitterman would have to have a note from a doctor clearing him to play before he could retake the field.

Russellville’s coaches, including Kitterman’s father, protested the impromptu ruling, arguing that there was no such rule in the rulebook.

Kitterman’s mother Vicki, a registered nurse, was also on hand and protested the ruling.

Head coach Wade Wallace eventually had the head umpire consult with the director of Alabama Dixie Youth, who confirmed that Kitterman could play in the game.

Once the game finally got started, the early woes for Russellville did not end. Moulton went up 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning.

These would prove to be the tournament host’s only runs of the contest, though.

Russellville’s pitcher Caden Parker, backed up by his defense, shut down their opponents for the rest of the game.

The Golden Tigers put their first run on the board in the top of the second when Gabe Wallace stole home plate on a wild pitch.

Russellville took its first lead of the game with a trio of runs in the top of the third.

Tom Barkley Scott hit an RBI single to center field that brought in Will Rushing.

Sawyer Lynch drew a walk with the bases loaded for the next run, and Jeff Lloyd hit a blooper into shallow left field that barely cleared the third baseman, bringing in the third run of the inning.

The Golden Tigers’ kept putting the ball in play in the top of the fourth, but a salvo of errors by Moulton allowed Russellville several insurance runs.

Stone Fincher hit an infield groundball that turned into two runs scored after two throwing errors.

Lynch laid down a bunt that resulted in two more throwing errors by Moulton and two more runs by the Golden Tigers.

Scott followed Lynch by hitting a frozen rope line drive into center field for an RBI. Moulton had a two-base throwing error on a routine groundball by Kitterman that led to yet another run for Russellville.

Lloyd rounded out the scoring for the Golden Tigers in the inning by picking up an RBI on a fielder’s choice.

Moulton had only one more at-bat to try to change the score, but could get nothing going, giving Russellville the 10-run win after four innings.

“It feels good to beat the tournament host,” Coach Wallace said. “I’m proud of our team. We battled back after the first inning, and we executed tonight.

Caden pitched a great game for us, and we executed on offense and defense.”

Russellville will play its final game of the round-robin tournament against Hatton today at 6 p.m. at H.A. Alexander field in Moulton.

The tournament’s top three teams will advance to the district tournament which begins on June 22.