| All local squads out of tune | | | Instead of tuning up for the upcoming postseason, Obion County’s three baseball entries sputtered toward their respective regular season finish lines Thursday.
Union City, Obion Central and South Fulton all lost — the Red Devils twice — as the local clubs failed in an attempt to gear up for district tournament play, to begin next week.
UC was shut out by Trenton 3-0, Central took a 20-3 pounding from Dyer County, and South Fulton got hammered twice, 13-3 and 18-7 by Bradford in Thursday’s prep diamond action.
Final details of both the District 14A and District 13AA Tournaments are to be worked out over the next few days.
The 14A event is scheduled to begin with a pair of play-in elimination games as South Fulton will visit Bradford and Dresden will host Lake County.
The winner of the SF-Bradford matchup will advance to play Union City Thursday as the double-elimination portion of the tourney opens at UC’s Elam Stadium.
The tournament will continue through May 7.
The 13AA tourney will be played at Dyersburg High School.
Obion Central will be involved in a play-in game on Wednesday against an undetermined opponent, the winner to advance to the double-elimination bracket of the tourney.
The following is a recap of Thursday’s action.
Trenton 3, Union City 0
The Tornadoes (12-14-1) got just three hits — two of those of the bunt variety — against former Union City student Brandon Petty in dropping their final pre-tournament game.
Taylor Bruff led off the game with a triple, but was stranded at third to squander the Twisters’ best scoring opportunity. Colton Speed and Jacob Worley accounted for UC’s other safeties.
Two of Trenton’s three tallies were unearned against Speed, who was charged with the pitching loss to drop to 5-2.
Speed gave five hits, fanned two and walked two.
Camron Sherwood pitched a scoreless sixth, striking out two for UC.
Peabody scored one of its runs via a passed ball and another on a Union City error.
The Tornadoes, the top seed in the East Division of District 14A, will not play again until facing the winner of the Bradford-South Fulton game in a first-round elimination contest next Thursday.
Dyer Co. 20, Central 3
The Rebels’ loss Thursday could not be pointed at the error bug — which has plagued the county locals for much of the season.
Obion Central was dropped by the Choctaws thanks to 12 hits allowed and 11 total walks.
Rebel starter Ethan Davis lasted just an inning while allowing six runs on three hits and four walks.
Chase Wallace, Trevor Riley, Brandon King and K.C. Covington also toed the rubber for OC in Thursday’s defeat to Dyer County.
At the dish, Obion Central (8-18, 1-7 District 13AA) mustered just a pair of hits with Patrick Haskins and Adam Alexander each good for an RBI double.
Meanwhile, Garrett Montgo-mery plated the other OC run on a sacrifice fly.
The two teams are scheduled to play again today at Newbern, with Central then set to travel to Adamsville for a Saturday game.
Bradford 13-18, SF 3-7
Bradford capitalized on 13 South Fulton errors in the doubleheader to drop the Obion Countians to 5-17-1.
The 2-through-5 hitters in SF’s lineup had a good first game against their Devil counterparts.
Daniel King went 3-for-3 with a double and a pair of RBI, while Jonathan Clouse, Sam Curtis and Alex Gallien all went 2-for-3.
Gallien was tagged with the pitching loss, charged with seven earned runs in four innings. Justin Cranford gave up three earned tallies in his only inning of mound work.
South Fulton got just one hit in the nightcap — a Kendall Greer single — and contributed to its downfall with eight fielding and/or throwing mistakes.
Cranford, one of four pitchers, was charged with the loss.
All but four of Bradford’s runs were unearned due to SF miscues.
South Fulton will play a doubleheader today to close out its regular season, hosting crosstown rival Fulton City first, then welcoming Carlisle County to town. | | | | |
