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Allensville Open |
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Allensville Open |
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June 24-25, 2000
Golden Corral was a last minute entry
in the Allensville Open Tournament in Allensville, NC this weekend, but the team made a
solid showing.
In the first game Saturday morning, GC faced a
local club called Da Other Side...hmmm...interesting. This team showed plenty of
fight as they battled back and forth with Golden Corral for a 16-16 tie through the first
four innings. GC, however, managed to score in each of the last three innings, and
Da Others did not. The final was a hard fought 23-17 win for The Corral. Kirk
Barnes led the way with a 5 for 5 effort, and JoJo Owens, Tony Conner, Lee Womack all
added 4 hits each.
Next in line were The Athletics. GC was a
little sluggish at first in this one, but got it going a bit in the middle innings and
cruised to a 19-10 victory. Tommy Crews was 4 for 4, Matt Hunt was 4 for 5, and
Tuffy Eggleston went 4 for 5 with 2 HRs. Golden Corral would now wait until Sunday
morning to continue the tournament.
GC's first game Sunday morning was against a
local South Boston club, Blitzkrieg, that had been eagerly awaiting their chance to battle
Golden Corral for South Boston Softball Supremacy. I guess, sometimes, you have to
be careful what you wish for. The first inning opened with hits from John Hudson,
Womack and a 3-run blast from Eggleston. Another run followed and the defense held
Blitz in check for a 4-0 edge. When GC failed to score in the top of the second, the
door was wide open for the Blitzers to get it going, but they didn't take advantage of the
opportunity, and The Corral unleashed on them in the top of the third. Every Corral
batter had at least 1 hit in the inning as they rolled up 13 runs for a commanding 17-0
lead heading into the bottom of the third. Blitzkrieg scored twice, but a Conner
2-run shot in the fourth gave GC a 20-2 lead. That proved to be enough as the Blitz
added 3 more in the fourth before the slaughter rule was enforced. Golden Corral 20,
Blitzkrieg 5.
In the undefeated game, GC faced their toughest
game of the year. A team that was assembled "just for fun" for this
tournament included players from Jerry's and Thomas Bait & Tackle (these teams joined
forces a couple of years ago and has won and made many strong showings in Class A ball
around the country). Also playing with this team were 3 players from the current
Class AA Paramount team that battles in Major/AA tournaments. The Corral scored
early, and often, in the first four innings and only trailed by a 19-17 count after four
complete. GC failed to continue hitting, however, and D&G Const./TB&T did.
The game went the distance, but GC fell 30-18. Eggleston and Womack led the
way with 5 for 5 efforts, and Hudson and Rodney Mosley added 4 hits each.
This meant that Golden Corral had to win
another game in order to get back to battle for the championship. This game was
versus State Farm from Chase City, VA. This was a hard fought battle that went back
and forth. Up by the precarious score of 17-16, The Corral pushed across 6 big runs
in the seventh on back to back hits from Curtis Duffer, Conner, Eddie Poole, Barnes, Wayne
Mosley, Hudson, and Owens. State Farm threatened but only managed 4 runs of their
own for the final of 23-20, Golden Corral. Hudson stayed hot with a 6 for 6, 2 HR
game, and Duffer and Barnes chipped in 4 hits apiece.
This pitted GC against
D&G/TB&T/Paramount again with the unenviable task of having to whip them twice for
first place. This didn't happen. Golden Corral's only decent inning was the
third when they got homers from Owens, Eggleston, and Tommy Crews, and singles from
Duffer, Conner, Poole, Barnes, and W. Mosley for a 6-run inning.
D&G/TB&T/Paramount continued to roll, however, on their way to first place
in this tournament. GC was relegated to a second place finish.
Team Leaders: John Hudson (.737, 2 HRs),
Lee Womack (.722, 1 HR), Tuffy Eggleston (.679, 10 HRs), Tony Conner
(.654, 2 HRs), Kirk Barnes (.640).