The Franklin County All-Stars ran into a stalwart Wednesday night in the Hattiesburg American All-Stars for the second time in the Dixie Youth 9-10 State Tournament.

The outcome of the second meeting between the two teams was similar to the final of the first game between the two.

Hattiesburg advanced to the finals of the state&160;tournament with a 12-1 victory over Franklin County at Ballew-Bowlin Field in Duncan Park.

In earlier action, Carthage advanced to the finals just slipping by East Central in the bottom of the ninth inning by a score of 6-5.

John Paul Sullivan had the only hit for Franklin County, and it was an RBI-double, which accounted for the only run of the night for Franklin County, which came in the top of the first inning.

Hattiesburg jumped out to an early 5-1 lead with five runs in the first inning, mostly because of four walks by Franklin County pitching.

After being blanked in the bottom of the second inning, Hattiesburg took it upon themselves to prove why they have gone so far in the tournament undefeated, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by a three-run double by Robert O’Neal.

Franklin County put one runner on in the top of the fourth inning, but winning pitcher Jerrod Smith shut down the opposition to post the victory for Hattiesburg.

Cable McMinn was saddled with the loss for Franklin County.

In the only other game of the night, Carthage defeated East Central by a score of 6-5 in nine innings.

The score going into the ninth inning was tied at three runs apiece.

East Central put up a two-spot in the top half of the ninth, however, not to be outdone, Carthage answered with three runs of their own, which won the game for them, and put them into the State Championship game against Hattiesburg, which is set for 7 p.m. today at Ballew-Bowlin.

Lance Jones earned the win for Carthage, after pitching two innings of relief, and Phillip Byrd suffered the loss.