Olive Branch comeback knocks out BC
Published 7:12 pm Friday, July 8, 2011
PORTSMOUTH — Too many walks finally became too much for Bennett’s Creek Little League to overcome as Olive Branch knocked BC out of the Junior League (ages 13-14) District 6 All-Star Tournament with four runs in the home half of the seventh for an 11-10 win Thursday night at Wilson High School.
Even with allowing 11 walks through the first six innings, with three big rallies on the offensive side, Bennett’s Creek led 10-7 with three outs remaining.
BC came in with two wins after opening the tournament with a loss. Going through the loser’s bracket, BC needed Thursday’s win plus three more to win the tourney and move on to states.
The BC All-Stars jumped out on top in the second inning. With two outs and seemingly not much going for BC, Samy Melchoine singled, moving Alex Williams over to second.
After a double steal, Jimmy Miller sent a fly to short leftfield and it was dropped, allowing Williams and Melchoine to score.
David Ward, in the ninth spot of BC’s order, lined a double to the fence in left-centerfield and Miller scored for a 3-0 BC lead.
Zach Dearborn started on the mound for BC. He got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second inning and kept Olive Branch off the board for the first three frames.
Thanks largely to walks and wild pitches, and with just one base hit along the way, Olive Branch rallied for four runs in the fourth, making it 4-4. Quadaris Boyd came on in relief of Dearborn during the fourth.
Bennett’s Creek answered with three runs in the top of the fifth. Truman Boyd, BC’s shortstop and leadoff man, walked to open the inning and came in to score on a wild pitch. Miller, pinch-running for Zach Dearborn, and Ben Dearborn also scored sprinting down the line on wild pitches.
Olive Branch scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to retie the score, 7-7.
BC plated three again in the sixth. Olive Branch was one play from ending the inning without a BC run, but an errant throw from third over to first on a chopper allowed David Ward and Truman Boyd to score.
Two batters later, Ben Dearborn singled in Sampson Edmunds, who reached first on the error, for a 10-7 BC lead.
Quadaris Boyd escaped two walks and having Olive Branch runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the sixth.
BC couldn’t stop Olive Branch’s last-ditch rally in the seventh. The first four hitters reached on walks, two allowed by Boyd and two by Melchoine. The next three hitters knocked RBI singles, one run at a time, for the 11-10 final.
Truman Boyd, Ben Dearborn, Melchoine and Ward had two hits each for BC.
Bennett’s Creek Little League is hosting the Virginia Minor League (ages 9-10) State Tournament in Driver starting with the opening ceremonies on Thursday evening and games involving 16 teams from around Virginia on Friday.