HATTIESBURG — After an 11-1 win over East Central in the first round of the South Regional Tournament, Natchez 9-year-olds All-Stars coach Gary Farmer said his team didn’t hit the ball like it had been hitting.

But for the second game in a row, Natchez got a decisive win via the 10-run rule while struggling to get the bats going as it defeated Hattiesburg American 12-2 in four innings to advance in the winner’s bracket.

Farmer said with the competition getting tougher, starting with Saturday night’s game against Hattiesburg American, the players on Natchez’s team needed to get back to hitting like they had been throughout the postseason.

“Once again we were flat,” Farmer said. “We really weren’t swinging the bats like we swing them. The deeper in the tournament we’re really going to have to get our bats going. The sticks will come back.”

Natchez scored four runs in the top of the first inning and again in the top of the second to jump out to an 8-0 lead, but the only real big hit in either of those two innings was an RBI double by Gage Dossett in the top of the first. In fact, that was the only extra-base hit by either team in the game. Natchez had just six hits in the game and neither team had a multiple hitter.

“(We got) timely hits here and there, ran the bases well, and bunted well,” Farmer said.

Natchez used three pitchers in the game, starting with winning pitcher Craig Bradley, who pitched a scoreless first inning. Reed White pitched the next two innings and gave up two runs in the bottom of the third. After Natchez scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 12-2 lead, Christian Day ended the game by keeping Hattiesburg American off the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Bradley, White and Day combined on a four-hitter and struck out four.

“(It was the )Best defensive game we’ve played. Really looked sharp in the field,” Farmer said about the team’s defense, which committed no errors. After winning two games in a row, Natchez received a bye today off and will take on the winner of the Copiah-Petal game Monday at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on The Groove 105.1 FM (not 101.5 as was published in an article in Saturday’s Democrat).

Magee 13, Natchez 7

MAGEE — After scoring 22 runs in their win over Gautier in the first round of the South Regional Tournament, the Natchez 11-year-olds All-Stars were held in check in a loss to host Magee Saturday night.

“What beat us was not making routine outs. We made too many errors,” Natchez coach Billy Ray Farmer said. “In the fourth inning they sent three batters to the plate and we couldn’t make the routine throws. We gave them so many extra outs making routine stops and bad throws to first.”

Natchez took Magee’s starting pitcher out of the game early thanks to long base hits by Cameron Farmer and Ben Hewitt, but scored just one in the top of the first inning. As Farmer noted, every time a ball was hit deep, Magee’s outfielders did a good job getting it back into the infield quickly to hold the batters to long singles.

“At one time it was 4-4 and it was 7-5. I figured we’d be really pumped, but we played mediocre,” Farmer said. “It’s tough. They’re not used to losing.”

With the loss, Natchez dropped to the loser’s bracket and will take on McComb in an elimination game today at 6 p.m. Natchez defeated McComb twice to win the district championship.