Photos and copy by Bobby Joe Smith
Friday night the Rays and the Tigers met in the final game of the 2022 Coach Pitch Tournament held at Jim Parker Groves Field.
The Tigers claimed the title with a 14-9 win.
The Tigers got out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, then added two more runs in the second inning off of the bat of Auden Flores whose homerun also added 1 RBI, 5-0.
The Rays battled back and closed the score to 5-4, all off of big hits by Bryson Ramsey, with a 2 RBI triple and Ridgley Hancock’s triple scoring 1 RBI.
Not content with the score so close, the Tigers had a huge third inning with homeruns by Jazon Wren, Peter Barnum and Kynnon Reyenga cleaning up the bases and stretching the gap to 10-4. Bryson Debney added another RBI to make it 11-4 after four innings.
As the afternoon temperature rose so did the heat off of the bats of the Rays; Grayson Hutson’s homer brought in two other baserunners, 8-11.
Clayton Coleman added another with an RBI double, 9-11.
In the fifth inning the Tigers padded their margin, to 14-9, with key at bats by Jazon Wren, and Lync Praden.
Tiger Grayson Bates ended the game in the sixth inning with a catch at a second base for the final out.
