By By Scott Cooper- Sports reporter
Having won their opening game of the District 5 Little League tournament played at the YMCA Sports Park, the 11-12 year-old Brewton All-Stars were in position to make a run at the championship.
However, close, heartbreaking losses in their next two games spelled elimination from the tournament.
Covington County 6,
Brewton 3
A July 8 meeting with Covington County was expected to be a tough challenge for Brewton. After all, Covington County has a history of fielding a talented squad and entered this year's tournament as defending champions.
The Brewton All-Stars, however, gave Covington all they could handle. After falling behind 2-0, Brewton responded by tying the game with a dramatic bottom-of-the-sixth-inning home run before coming up short in extra innings.
Covington County grabbed an early lead as a first-inning run was followed by a solo home run in the top of the second that placed Brewton at a 2-0 disadvantage.
Houston Simmons led a Brewton offensive charge with a bottom-of-the-second double. Simmons later scored courtesy of Covington control problems from the mound while reducing the deficit to 2-1.
After a scoreless third inning, Covington padded their lead to 3-1 before Brewton answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.
With one swing, Simmons reduced the deficit down to a single run as a shot off his bat cleared the fence and pulled Brewton closer at 3-2.
As Brewton came to bat in the bottom of the sixth, the 3-2 Covington County lead remained unchanged.
Two outs later, things were looking bleak for Brewton when Corey Williams stepped to the plate and powered a homer over the left centerfield fence that sent the game into extra innings with the score deadlocked at 3-3.
Neither team produced on the offensive end in the seventh inning, but then Covington struck the game-winning blow with a three-run homer in the eighth that proved to be the difference in a 6-3 Brewton loss.
Leaders at the plate for Brewton were Houston Simmons, 2-for-2 with one RBI and Corey Williams, 1-for-1 with one RBI.
Opp 2, Brewton 1
A hard-fought defensive struggle took place when the All-Stars from Brewton met tbe boys from Opp in a July 9 elimination game.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Brewton closed the gap to 2-1 with a home run in the fourth.
But, with Brewton unable to further cut into the lead, Opp hung on to emerge with a victory that forced the Brewton All-Stars from the tournament.
After a scoreless top-of-the-first inning for Brewton, Opp swung the bats with authority in the bottom of the first.
Three base hits coupled with two walks and a passed ball accounted for a 2-0 lead that Opp maintained until Brewton batted in the top half of the fourth.
At that point, Corey Williams smashed a leadoff home run over the left centerfield fence that closed the gap to 2-1.
With Opp being held scoreless in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings, Brewton came to bat in the top of the sixth still behind by a single run.
Brewton produced two baserunners with a walk and an Opp error, but the Opp pitcher registered two strikeouts and another Brewton runner was caught attempting to steal for the third out that ended Brewton's season.
Offensive leaders for Brewton were Corey Williams, 1-for-2 with one RBI and Evan Burkett, 1-for-2.