SARDIS 12 YEAR OLDS WIN MEMORIAL WEEKEND CHALLENGE TOURNAMENT

            The Sardis 12 year olds were winners of the Carolina Challenge Baseball League Memorial weekend tournament at Matthews Athletic and Recreation Association.  The tournament started with a 9-7 victory against South Park on Friday night.  After jumping out to a 9-1 lead Sardis had to hold off a valiant rally by the South Park squad.  A key moment came in the fifth inning with a runner on third and nobody out.  Austin Parker fielded a come backer to the mound and threw to Josh Harley at first to get the out.  Harley then fired to home to nail the runner trying to score from third with Danny Epstein applying the tag.  The following inning Austin Parker snuffed out the final South Park rally by getting the final out with the tying run in scoring position to seal the victory.
            Saturday’s games began with a contest against a tough MARA team.  Forrest Anderson got the team off to a good start from the mound with two scoreless innings.  However, Sardis fell behind 6-1.  Nate Woodcock kept the team close with two shutout innings.  Stellar defensive work in the outfield by Alex Gordon to catch a line drive in the gap and Blake Trew throwing a runner out at second from the fence also kept Sardis in the game.  The bats started to come alive in the latter part of the game and then Josh Harley put Sardis ahead in the fifth inning with a 2 RBI single.  MARA tied things up in the sixth to send the game to extra innings.  In the top of the seventh run scoring hits by Jeremy Jones and Danny Epstein put the team up 9-7.  Alec Howell got MARA out in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the victory. 
            The second game of the day on Saturday pitted Sardis against Olde Providence.  Blake Trew proved he could play small ball with bunts or hit away with a long double into the left-center gap.  Forrest Anderson, the Sardis clean up hitter, had a home run and three RBI.  He also turned a double play from the shortstop position in the final inning.  Alex Carl also made a tough catch on a pop-up hit to short right field from his second base position.  In the end Sardis had earned a 7-3 victory.
            Heading into Sunday the Sardis squad was the first place team in their pool.  They were facing a tough Steele Creek team.  The boys from Sardis had to come back from a 7-3 deficit, but once again showed their resolve by continuing to battle and sending the game into extra innings.  This was made possible by another runner by gunned down at the plate by the combination of Josh Harley to Danny Epstein who blocked the plate.  Leading off the bottom of the seventh inning Jeremy Jones got on base and proceeded to steal second.  Two outs later Jones stole third and scored the winning run when Austin Parker’s hustle allowed him to beat out an infield grounder.  The final score was 12-11.  Jones finished the game with three runs scored after going 3 for 4 from the plate.  Other hitting stars included Josh Harley with 2 RBI and Nate Woodcock with 4 RBI. 
            The finale of the tournament saw Sardis facing another undefeated team, Stewards of the Game.  Stewards jumped ahead 5-0 in the first inning, but again the Sardis team battled back.  Sardis got a boost from two shutout innings in the third and fourth by pitcher Alex Gordon.  Alex Carl made a sliding pick up of a hard hit ball at second base to end the fifth inning.  Alec Howell tied the game with an RBI hit in the fourth inning.  Haydon Welsh then put the team ahead for good with a line drive down the left field line.  Alec Howell then finished things off with two shutout innings to give the team a 7-5 victory and tournament championship.