NATCHEZ — One of the great things about baseball is that there’s always going to be an opportunity to make up for your mistakes.

Craig Bradley had that opportunity and took advantage of it, helping the Natchez 10-year-old All-Stars post a 12-8 win over Copiah in the semifinals of the Dixie Youth District 6 Sub-District Tournament.

Bradley made three errors at shortstop, including back-to-back errors in the fifth inning that allowed Copiah to close the lead to 10-8.

Bradley was then called on to pitch and slammed the door on Copiah, retiring all five batters he faced to pick up the save.

He also had a two-run single in the top of the sixth inning to give Natchez a four-run cushion.

Bradley said his errors at shortstop got him even more focused when he took the mound.

“I was trying to throw even harder to try and make up for those errors,” Bradley said. “I just had to forget about the errors and focus on the pitching.”

And when Bradley came up with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth and Natchez clinging to a two-run lead, he didn’t disappoint, lacing a line drive to right field that scored two runs.

“I was trying to hit a line drive back up the middle,” Bradley said. “I was able to get the line drive and knock in those two runs.”

Natchez coach Gary Farmer said Bradley shaking off the three errors to pick up the save and drive in two runs was emblematic of the entire team.

“He had his head down after those errors, but I asked him if he could pitch two innings and he said he would take them on,” Farmer said. “We’ve got a team full of guys who aren’t going to quit. All 12 kids on the team are like that.”

Bradley wasn’t the only player who made errors. There were a total of 11 errors in the game, with six of them being made by Natchez.

“We had some errors at crucial times that allowed Copiah to come back,” Farmer said. “But we had a big enough cushion to compensate for the errors.”

It looked like the game would be a rout early as Natchez jumped out to a 10-1 lead after the top of the fourth inning.

The game was tied 1-1 when Natchez scored four runs in the top of the third inning.

The big hits came from Jacob Jenkins, who had a two-run single, and Gage Dossett, who had a two-run double.

Natchez added five more runs in the top of the fourth inning thank to Gabe Smith’s run-scoring single, Dalvion Jackson’s two-run base hit, and a two-run single by Bradley.

However, Copiah came back with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to 10-6.

Connor Chapin had a two-run single and Noah Chapa had an RBI double in the inning.

After Natchez was kept scoreless in the top of the fifth, Copiah scored two runs in the bottom to cut the lead to 10-8.

With one out and a runner on third, Bradley was called in to pitch.

He induced a pop out and a strikeout to end the inning, and then sat Copiah down in order in the sixth to close out the game.

With the win, Natchez advances to the tournament championship game against Franklin County at 7 p.m. today.

Farmer said it will be tough for his team to refocus after beating Copiah two nights in a row, but it must be done.

“It’s like we played two championship games in a row (against Copiah), and we’ve got another (Thursday) night,” Farmer said. “But if anybody can do it, it’s this team. This is a special group of boys. Our hitting is starting to come around, and we’re going to have to hit the ball against Franklin County.”

Franklin County gave Natchez its only loss of the tournament, a 10-9 victory last Friday.

And Bradley is looking forward to trying to get revenge for that loss.

“We have to forget about (Thursday’s) win,” Bradley said. “The scoreboard is off. Now we have to focus on Franklin County.”