Swinging at state
By Staff
District 6 champion Russellville ends postseason run at state tournament
Kim West
SHEFFIELD – After a dominating performance in the District 6 tournament July 5-9, the Russellville 11-12 All-Stars were eliminated 11-1 by Phenix-City in the Little League state tournament Monday at Sheffield Youth Park.
District 6 champion Russellville, which outscored opponents 23-2 in three games during the district tournament, scored its lone run in the top of the second inning on an RBI double by Isaac Fleming to bring in Luke Harris, who went 2-for-2 with a single and a double.
District 4 champion Phenix-City, which homered three times, includind two home runs by Ty Galliner, added four runs in the first inning, two runs in the second and third innings and three in the fourth.
Christian Wiggs went four innings, allowing three hits and no earned runs with eight strikeouts for Phenix-City.
Aaron Jackson went four innings, allowing nine hits with five strikeouts for Russellville.
Andalusia 14
Russellville 8
District 5 champion Andalusia took advantage of 10 unearned runs to defeat Russellville 14-8 Sunday night in the second round of the Little League state tournament Sunday.
Russellville took an early lead with five runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Aaron Jackson hit an RBI single to score Aaron Fisher, who led off the inning with an infied single, and Landon Oliver hit a first-pitch RBI double to bring home Trevor Malone, who drew a full-count walk.
With Jackson on third and Oliver on second, Luke Harris sent a 3-1 fastball over the outfield fence to increase the lead to 5-0.
But Andalusa used a six-run second inning that included five unearned runs to take the lead and held Russellville scoreless until the fifth inning when Will Hester doubled and Tyaler Childers scored him on an RBI groundout.
Russellville added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth as Malone and Jackson scored on an RBI double up the middle by Jesse Vincent.
Zac Ward earned the win in five innings of relief for Andalsuia. Harris finished with five strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings, while Landon Oliver had three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings for Russellville.
