Philadelphia National reaches finals

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
July 14, 2004
PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia National moved into the championship round of the Dixie Youth District 4 12-under tournament with a 6-3 win over Philadelphia Westside Tuesday night at Northside Park.
Westside returns to action Thursday at 7 p.m. against East Mississippi, a 4-3 elimination game winner over West Lauderdale.
Philadelphia National advances to Friday's championship against the Westside-East Mississippi winner and will have to be beaten twice. The tournament champion advances to the state 12-under tournament at Pascagoula.
Philadelphia National struck for four runs in the bottom of the first inning and never trailed in staying in the winners' bracket. Three of the runs were unearned. Ivan Willis and Hunter Stovall both had a two-run single in the inning.
Westside got one run back on a towering solo homer to center field by Jakwelon Seales in the top of the second inning.
Westside closed to within 4-2 in the top of the fourth as Paquel Talley singled home Seales, who had received an intentional walk.
Westside had its chances to get even closer, but stranded two runners each in the second, third, and fourth frames.
Philadelphia National picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth as Haigan Thompson singled and scored on a double by Djon John.
Both teams tallied once in the fifth. Westside's run came as Jeremy Morgan walked and scored when Scottie Brown's two-out fly ball to shallow right field was misplayed.
Philadelphia National got its run as Westside committed four errors on the first two batters in the bottom of the fifth.
Westside got its first two runners on base with walks to start the top of the sixth, but Ben Young lined into a game-ending double play at first base with Seales on deck.
John, Cassius Lunderman, and Willis combined to allow only five hits while striking out eight for Philadelphia National.
Andries Huddleston went the distance for Westside, striking out nine and allowing just four hits to go with four walks. Westside committed eight errors in the loss.
Talley had two hits, a single and a double, for Westside, while Jamie Hill and Jeremiah Horne both had a single.
East Mississippi 4
West Lauderdale 3
East Mississippi snapped a 3-3 tie with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to eliminate West Lauderdale in the losers' bracket game. Dillon Boatner reached on a fielder's choice and scored following an error on ball hit by Jonathan McMillan and a single by Gabe Lofton.
East Mississippi outhit West Lauderdale 6-1.
Tyler Sellers had two singles for East Mississippi, with Jason Smith adding a double. Hunter Potate and Chris Carlisle both had a single.
Clay Clearman singled for West's only hit.
11-year-olds
West Lauderdale 11
Philly National 6
West Lauderdale erased a 5-2 deficit with six runs in the top of the fifth inning to sweep the best-of-three series and advance to the first 11-year-old state tournament at Pascagoula.
In the big inning, West got two walks, a hit batsman, two errors, and singles by Cory Goodman, Scott Nabors, and Turner Enis to go up 8-6.
West added three insurance runs in the top of the sixth.
Gary Thomas tossed all six innings to get the win.
Nabors had two singles to lead West. Eli Alexander had a double with Thomas, Matthew Alawine, Smokey Ethridge, and Hunter Phillips each getting a single.
C.J. Johnson had a single and a double and Jayson Wallace had a pair of singles for Philadelphia. Dekarian Wells had a double, while Roccmin Seales, Trent Stribling, Michael Mingo, Chris Moore, and Kaiser Cotton each had a single.