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Dixie-Dudley-1 |
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April 29, 2000
Golden Corral traveled to the recently
completed Sports Complex in Petersburg for the first leg of the NSA Dixie Dudley
Tournament this past weekend. The tournament was a 3-game guarantee format.
In the opening game, Golden Corral played
Kristina's Pizza from Richmond. This was a bit of a see-saw battle all game as GC
jumped to the early lead of 8-2 after two complete. Kristina's, then, had a big
inning in the fourth to emerge with a 13-8 lead, and GC could only manage a 3-spot to
trail 13-11. The Corral, then, struggled in the fifth and sixth, scoring 0, to fall
behind by the score of 20-11 entering the last of the seventh. Golden Corral made a
run at it with timely hits to battle back within 3 with the tying run at the plate, but it
was not to be. GC loses its first game, 20-17. Kevin Neal and Tony Conner had
4 hits apiece in the game, and Rodney Mosley, Cordell Jackson, Matt Hunt, and Scott Lester
added 3 each in the losing effort.
Next up was Murphy's Law out of Richmond.
This one was all Golden Corral from the start. The first eight batters hit
safely and more followed later in the inning to open up a 10-0 first inning advantage.
8 more big runs in the second provided the knockout punch as Murphy's could only
score 3 runs and lost by the third inning slaughter-rule score of 18-3.
Golden Corral, then, got another shot at
Kristina's Pizza and proved that they were ready. GC rolled to an easy 14-4 victory
in the rematch to send Kristina's home early on Saturday. Jackson had 2 big blasts
in this one, accounting for 7 RBI.
The Corral next battled perennial Richmond
powers The Kingsmen. GC jumped out to an early lead of 10-1 after three innings, but
The Kingsmen, as they often do, fought back. As the score got tighter in the late
innings, Golden Corral came up with the big inning that they needed, as Jackson, Hunt,
Neal, Lester, Tuffy Eggleston, Conner, and Kevin Henderson got consecutive hits to push
across 6 important runs to carry a 16-7 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Kingsmen
added 4 runs, but came up short in the seventh as GC held on to win, 18-12.
Tuffy Auto Center was the next to fall as
Golden Corral continued to send teams packing. GC rolled in this one behind a 4 for
4 effort from Mosley, 3 for 3 from Neal, and Hunt, Jackson, Lester, Eggleston, Conner,
Henderson, Tommy Crews, and Kirk Barnes added a pair of hits each. The final was
another run-rule game, this time in four innings, 17-4.
Murphy's Law had proven that they were, indeed,
a much better team than they had showed early in the day, as they battled back to face off
with Golden Corral again. The run production faded a bit in this one, but the
defense was stellar, as GC won again by the score of 10-5 to advance to the "medal
round".
Awaiting Golden Corral next was Godfather's
Lounge from Dinwiddie, VA, who came out stroking it for 5 runs in the top of the first.
As GC tried to stay with them, Godfather's continued to score every inning and
built a 12-5 lead after four innings were complete. Fatigue was setting in on Golden
Corral, and it looked as though the boys from SoBo would end their day here, but they
weren't done just yet. 3 runs in the fifth cut it to 13-8, and after Godfather's
added 3 more of their own, the score was 16-8, as GC batted in the bottom of the sixth.
Barnes led off with a single and was followed by another from Mosley. A
double from Jackson scored them, and Neal followed with a hit with only 1 out in the
inning. Three straight doubles from Lester, Eggleston, and Conner brought GC within
2. After the second out, Crews, Barnes, Mosley, and Jackson all reached safely to
finally put The Corral on top by 1 run. Godfather's led off the top of the seventh
with 4 straight hits, but only scored twice to take a slim 18-17 lead. An
"accidental" homer from Neal to open the last of the seventh took the pressure
off, as it tied the game. Lester and Eggleston, then, calmly hit safely, and after
Conner was intentionally walked to load the bases, Henderson ripped a line drive single to
complete the comeback victory for Golden Corral, 19-18, in what was the most exciting game
of the day.
Golden Corral's 8th game in 11 hours allowed
them the opportunity to face a well-rested and very talented Wine Trucking/Fuddruckers
team. Fatigue was definitely a factor in this one, particularly on defense, as the
gloves just couldn't quite get down on the ball as they had in the other games throughout
the day. GC stayed close early, however, but down by the score of 14-13, Wine went
on a tear, with a few E's mixed in, and left us standing, 28-13. Wine/Fudds is a
very strong team and will be a stiff challenge in the next two legs of this tournament, as
will many of the other quality teams we saw during this long day.
Team Leaders: Kevin Neal (.774, 4 HRs),
Rodney Mosley (.676), Tony Conner (.667), Scott Lester (.656, 1 HR),
Cordell Jackson (.647, 5 HRs).