TRIBUNE/Eric Lusk • Brandon Venable, the shortstop for Surry West’s 9-year-old all-star baseball team, tries to corral a throw at second base against North Piedmont on Friday night. Surry West went 1-2 in the Area 4 tournament, played in Elkin over the weekend.
TRIBUNE/Eric Lusk • Dylan Simpson makes the scoop from his second-base post and gets ready to make the putout in Friday’s tournament opener.
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com
Three 9-and-under Surry County all-star baseball teams played in this weekend’s Western North Carolina Cal Ripken Area 4 tournament in Elkin.
Surry West and Surry Central each went 1-2 in the double-elimination event, which serves as a qualifier for the Western North Carolina state tournament. Surry North finished 0-2.
The tournament concludes with the championship series tonight, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Elkin Park. Eastern Randolph locked up one berth in the Area 4 finals on Saturday afternoon. Davidson County earned the other spot on Sunday afternoon.
Undefeated Eastern Randolph needs to win just once to claim the area title, while the challenger, with one loss, will need to win twice. The top three teams from this weekend advance to the state tournament in Polkville on July 11-14.
Surry West’s tournament run began Friday night with a 10-0 loss to a strong North Piedmont squad. West rebounded to beat Surry North in a wild 12-11 decision on Saturday.
“That was a long game and a back-and-forth game,” Surry West coach Blake Lyon said. “We got ahead early 2-0, then they came back to tie it 2-2. We were ahead, then they were ahead, then we finally got ahead to stay.”
Lyon said he was proud of how his team rebounded after Friday night’s tough loss. “It was a different team between Friday night and Saturday,” he said.
Surry West was eliminated later Saturday by Davidson County, 8-2. The teams were close for about four innings before Davidson pulled away.
Surry West 9-year-old all-star players were Brandon Venable, Wade Wagoner, John Merica, Carter Graham, Coy Yarboro, Dylan Simpson, Erick Romirez, Dakota Sumner, Jack Turner, Conner McCann, Mason Wood and Blake Shinault.
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Surry West and Surry North played each other for the 12-and-under area championship on Sunday afternoon in Liberty (results not available at press time).
Surry West advanced through the winner’s bracket, beating Eastern Randolph 7-5, Surry North 8-2 and Surry Central 14-1 on Friday and Saturday.
Surry North battled back through the loser’s bracket after falling to Surry West to get to the championship. North topped Eastern Randolph 7-3 and then Surry Central 10-3.
Surry North would need to beat Surry West twice to claim the area title. Regardless of how Sunday’s action turned out, both teams will advance to the state tournament, which for 12-year-old teams is July 11-14 in Mount Airy.
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