Red Bay claims county title
By Staff
Keith Ledbetter
For the FCT
BELGREEN – Consistent hitting and strong defensive plays by the Red Bay junior high baseball team helped the Tigers beat Phil Campbell 4-1 in the Franklin County junior high tournament finals Saturday.
The Bobcats came back in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1 after the Tigers scored in top of the inning.
Red Bay's Phillip Armstrong hit a double to lead off and Austin Malone's grounder advanced Armstrong around to threaten the Bobcats from third. Matt Montgomery added a sacrifice out that scored Armstrong for Red Bay for a 1-0 lead.
Phil Campbell evened the scored in the bottom after Cameron Harris doubled and Jake Dill hit an RBI triple to bring Harris home for the 1-1 tie.
Armstrong led off in the top of the third with a single to right field and Montgomery singled in Armstrong to put the Tigers ahead 2-1.
Red Bay's defense held the Bobcats scoreless in the bottom of the third, allowing the Tigers to extend their lead with another run in the fourth.
Austin Sparks singled to open the top of the fourth for the Tigers. After Ethan Blanton walked, both runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and Ben Hubbard hit an RBI single that scored Sparks to go ahead 3-1.
Phil Campbell's Ryan Champion doubled in the bottom of the fourth, but the next three batters failed to reach base for the Bobcats.
Red Bay catcher Bradley Patterson singled in Montgomery for the Tigers' fourth run in the top of the fifth.
Phil Campbell's final attempt in the bottom of the fifth was squashed when Red Bay executed a double play for the third out to end the inning as infielder Tra' Elliott picked up a ground ball, flipped it over to Montgomery, who tagged the base at second for the force out and then threw to Austin Malone for the second out at first to end the game with Red Bay leading 4-1.
The Tigers improved to 23-1 with their only loss coming to 5A Muscle Shoals.
"This team likes to play baseball," said Red Bay coach Donnie Hastings."They have played a lot of games this season and a lot of tough schools.I think that has paid off with this county win.
"We're going to have to replace two seniors on the varsity next season and some of these junior players will add something we've been missing, and that's depth."
