at district tour

By

staff reports

BASTROP, La. &045; By all accounts, this time around the level of play was a notch better on both sides.

Only drawback for Vidalia was it didn’t come out on the right end on the scoreboard after it was all over. Caldwell Parish rallied in the fifth inning to take a 4-2 win over the Vidalia All-Stars in an elimination game at the Louisiana Dixie Youth District 6 Minor League tournament at Bastrop.

Vidalia opened Saturday with a 14-7 loss to West Carroll.

&uot;We wanted to put on a better showing, and we should have,&uot; Vidalia head coach Tam Winston said. &uot;We probably should have won both games. It’s been a learning experience. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to do better.

Vidalia battled to take the lead in the fourth inning to break open a scoreless tie. Jake Winston singled and went to third on Dee Fleming’s double, and both scored on a Chris Cox single for a 2-0 lead.

Caldwell then answered with two runs in the fourth off starter Jake Winston and tagged on two in the fifth to take the lead.

Vidalia had a shot to take the lead in the top of the fifth when Cox was called out when he didn’t slide when he came into home plate on a play.

&uot;It’s one of those deals,&uot; Tam Winston said. &uot;But when the call was not going to go our way, there’s not much more you can do about it. We probably out-hit them. Jake had three hits allowed, and we had seven. We out-hit the team Saturday but didn’t score enough runs.&uot;

The loss ended the all-star season for Vidalia after Saturday’s loss to West Carroll put it in the losers’ bracket in a game the day after claiming the South sub-district tournament title in Ferriday.

Already short on pitching from the tournament and with another out sick, Vidalia surrendered eight runs in the first inning Saturday on one hit, one hit batsman and the rest walks.

&uot;But we came back and made a good showing out of it (Saturday),&uot; Tam Winston said. &uot;Both teams played excellent today. My kids played awesome ball. The kids left it out on the field.&uot;