photo by Ben Hillyer

Natchez 10-year-old All Stars second baseman Brock Farmer tags Lincoln Americans Britt Hughey for the first out in a double play Monday evening.

Muscle on the mound leads to win for Natchez 10s

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, June 30, 2009

NATCHEZ — The Natchez 10-year-olds rode the arm of Craig Bradley and the bat of Gage Dossett to stay alive in the Dixie Youth District 6 Sub-District Tournament at Duncan Park.

Bradley pitched a complete-game four-hitter and Dossett had three RBIs, including a two-run homer in the third inning of a 4-1 elimination game win over the Lincoln County Americans.

“It was a very gutty pitching performance from Craig,” Natchez coach Gary Farmer said. “He is one of the toughest competitors in the league. He doesn’t like for anyone to get a hit off of him. The later the inning, the faster he pitched, and he was on tonight.”

Bradley breezed through the contest, allowing just four hits.

The only Lincoln County run came in the top of the fifth inning, when Gabe Short led off with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

While Bradley was shutting down Lincoln County’s offense, Dossett was wearing out their pitching staff.

Dossett hit an RBI double in the first inning that gave Natchez its first run of the game, and then scored later in the inning on a Zac Flattman double.

Dossett then gave Natchez a cushion in the bottom of the third inning when he launched a two-run shot over the left field fence, which landed on top of the Lincoln County coach’s sport utility vehicle.

It was some sweet redemption for Dossett, who has been battling through a hitting slump.

“Gage has worked very hard on the side and in the batting cage on his hitting,” Farmer said. “We all knew that at some point he was going to come out of (the slump). Thank goodness that happened tonight.”

While Dossett had a big night at the plate, very few others for Natchez did. The team collected only six hits, with Dossett and Flattman hitting doubles and Christian Day hitting a triple.

“Hopefully the bats will wake up,” Farmer said. “They’re going to have to if we want to keep winning.”

Natchez will play its third straight elimination contest tonight when they face Copiah at 8 p.m.

Copiah hasn’t lost a game yet and defeated Franklin County 12-4 Monday night.

Should Natchez win tonight, there would be a coin flip to determine whether they would play a semifinal game Wednesday or draw a bye straight to the final game Thursday.