Natchez All Stars coach Joe Eidt said before the District 4 tournament that he heard the Summit All Stars had dead aim on taking care of his team. On Monday night at Liberty Park, Summit struck a blow to Natchez’s tourney title hopes, while setting themselves up nicely for a possible championship.

Summit jumped on Natchez in the first inning, scoring five runs, and never looked back to pick up a 9-6 win.

&uot;We didn’t make the plays in the first inning,&uot; said Eidt.

Natchez’s Dustin Case smacked a Jeremy Lofton fastball for a homer run to start the home half of the inning. Eidt’s team then put runners on second and third with one out, but couldn’t get them across the plate, as Lofton struck out Kevin Bishop and then got David Trisler to ground out to third.

Natchez only scored one more run until the fourth inning, when Trisler clubbed a homer to right field, trimming the lead to 8-2.

Up until the seventh inning, the three solo homers were Natchez’s only hits. But that changed in the bottom of the seventh. After Summit pitcher Alonzo Minor retired the first two batters, Jeremy Davis drew a walk and Drew Burns got hit by a pitch. Rasco then reached on an error, which scored Davis. Bishop then doubled down the left field line, plating Burns and making the score 9-6. Trisler came to the plate with two on and two out, but he struck out on a 3-2 pitch.

Natchez will play Wilk-Amite at 5:30 p.m. tonight. Summit advances to play Franklin County at 8 p.m.

Natchez is now in unfamiliar territory, as it has to play in the loser’s bracket.

&uot;They’re going to be out there ready to play (tonight), &uot;Eidt said. ‘It’s been a long time since we’ve had to come through the loser’s bracket, but we’re going to find out what they got (tonight).&uot;