Despite high hopes, the Brewton 10- and 11-year-old all-stars had their hearts broken this week at the Little League State Tournament in Russellville.

They lost a 1-0 game to Phenix City in the bottom of the sixth inning in their opener Saturday night.

Then, despite getting 10 hits, including two long home runs, they just couldn’t put a lot of runs on the board in losing their second game 6-2 to Bay Minette on Monday.

“It was heart-breaking for these young men,” all-star manager Randy Winton said. “They worked hard. They deserved to win some games here, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Still, Brewton can be proud of how these 10 young men represented our town. They worked hard and played hard and in the process did it all with class.”

While not pushing many runs across the plate was the ultimate downfall, the pitching trio of Hunter Brittain, Austin Holmes and Jordan Williams was the bright spot. Between the three of them, they recorded 18 strikeouts in their combined 12 innings on the mound.

“Those three were lights out for us,” Winton said. “They pitched their hearts out and we just couldn’t help them with any runs. We tried awful hard, but we just couldn’t seem to get that breakout inning we needed.

“I guarantee you, though, there wasn’t a better trio of pitchers in the tournament than Hunter, Austin and Jordan.”

PHENIX CITY 1, BREWTON 0

Brittain booked one of the finest pitching performances in Brewton all-star history in the opener. In striking out 10 of the 12 official batters he faced (he walked five and gave up one hit).

Brittain held Phenix City in check in hopes of getting the one or two runs it would take to win the game. Holmes came in to strike out four in his one and two-thirds inning of work.

On the other side, though, Phenix City was every bit as tough on the mound. Their pitchers struck out 13 and yielded four scattered hits to hold Brewton at bay.

Phenix City scored the winning run in their final at-bat. A leadoff single put a runner on first, before Holmes struck out one and Williams came on to strike out the next batter.

As Williams got a first-pitch strike on the next hitter, Brewton hung up the Phenix City runner between first and second and had a chance to end the inning before the throw got away and the speedster scored all the way from first for the game-winner.

At the plate, Brewton was led by singles from Stokes Jennings, Lane Clark and Brittain while Williams added a double.

BAY MINETTE 6,

BREWTON 2

Brewton can look back at its first at-bat and feel the sting of this one.

After leadoff walks to Drew Williamson and Lane Clark, Brittain singled to load the bases with no outs. From there, Bay Minette got a strikeout, fielder’s choice and strikeout to get out of the jam unscathed.

Brewton did get on the board first in the second and third innings when both Joshua Winton and Austin Holmes led off each with long home runs over the centerfield fence. However, despite pounding out 10 hits, that’s all the damage Brewton could do.

For Brewton, Williamson and Clark had two hits apiece, while Brittain, Jordan Williams, and Stokes Jennings each had a hit as well in addition to the home runs by Winton and Holmes.

Bay Minette scored two runs in each of the second, third and fourth innings.

Making the all star team for Brewton is: Tyler Baxter, Hunter Brittain, Lane Clark, Austin Holmes, Stokes Jennings, O’Neil White, Jordan Williams, Drew Williamson, Caleb Winton, and Joshua Winton.

Randy Winton served as manager and Ed Williamson as coach.