MCCOMB — The Natchez 11-year-olds All-Star team had to defeat the McComb 11-year-olds All-Star team twice to end up as the No. 1 seed out of District 6 for the upcoming South State Tournament.

But that would not be easy as Natchez took on a McComb team that won the Dixie Youth World Series as 10-year-olds last year. And even though McComb had just five hits and trailed 3-0 before going to bat in the first inning, it showed its championship form by rallying for a 7-3 win to claim the district’s No. 1 seed.

The game was scheduled to start at 6 p.m., but rain pushed the start back by almost 45 minutes.

“They were patient at the plate. We had too many walks. We just had trouble finding the strike zone,” Natchez coach Jeff Webb. “They took advantage of it and got hits when they needed to.”

After shutting down McComb in the first two innings, starting pitcher Christopher White started having control issues in the bottom of the third inning as he walked two batters before giving up a two-out RBI single by Tag Gatlin. Sanders Ott then singled in another run and just like that McComb was trailing by only one run.

White then walked two more batters, the first to load the bases and the second to bring in another run to make the score 3-3. He was relieved by Luke Thomas, who got the next batter to ground out to end the inning.

McComb scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead for good. The big hit was a two-run double by Cortez Brown.

Natchez struck first off starting pitcher Ben Coney. Andrew Beesley led off with a single and White reached on an error. Then with one out, Thomas hit a three-run home run to give the visiting team a 3-0 lead. However, Coney shut the door on Natchez after that as he gave up just six hits the rest of the game while walking none and striking out four in a complete-game win.

“McComb is a championship team and they don’t lose their composure. They walked nobody. They played good defense,” Webb said. “We just couldn’t put two hits together.”

As the runner-up in District 6, Natchez will take on the District 8 champion in the opening round of the South State Tournament in Hattiesburg, which begins July 17.