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Vinton Dogwood |
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Vinton Dogwood |
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May 6-7, 2000
South Boston Golden Corral traveled to Salem, VA for the
annual Vinton Dogwood Festival USSSA Softball Tournament. The tournament was played
in a round robin format on Saturday, followed by a double elimination tournament starting
Saturday night and Sunday for those that qualified to stay.
Saturday: Golden Corral opened the
tournament on Saturday morning versus Bryant's Salvage from Lynchburg, VA. Bryant's
was no match for GC in this one. The Corral opened in the first with a 10-run inning
and never looked back. It was finally called in the fourth inning by the count of
26-6. Rodney Mosley led the way with a 5 for 5 performance, John Hudson and JoJo
Owens added 4 hits apiece, Chris Cole, Tony Conner, and Mark Carter added 3 hits each, and
Charles Womack chipped in a 2 for 2 effort in the rout.
Next up for GC was Bryant Land Co. Golden Corral seemed to look
past this team, and that proved to be a mistake. As the innings went by, GC never
got on track and trailed 4-10 entering the last of the seventh. A big blast from
Owens sparked the team, but they still came up short in the loss, 9-10.
Having missed an opportunity to go 2-0 in the bracket, Golden Corral
now had to face a very tough Omega Fitness team in a "must win" situation.
Both teams started off hot, as Omega scored 6 times in the top of the first, only
to have Golden Corral answer with 5 of their own, powered by a big homerun from Curtis
Duffer. This game was back and forth until a big fifth inning for GC, behind
consecutive hits from Tuffy Eggleston, Mark Carter, Lee Womack, and Kevin Henderson's
fourth hit of the game set the table for another 3-run bomb from Duffer that put The
Corral up by 20-12. Omega wouldn't go quietly, however, and they rallied for 6 runs
in the seventh but came up short. Golden Corral wins and advances to the double
elimination tournament by a 20-18 count.
In the first round of the double elimination tournament, Golden
Corral faced The Firm, who was red hot. A slow start from GC was more than they
could overcome in this one, as The Firm rolled to a 19-12 victory, sending GC into the
loser's bracket for an early game Sunday morning.
Sunday: Golden Corral began the day with
the 8:00 game against a team called Angels. The first inning was a sign of things to
come in this game, as Mosley led off with a single, followed by hits from Hudson and Matt
Hunt and a homerun from Kevin Neal. More hits from Owens and Duffer capped off a
5-run first and GC never trailed. Hunt (4 for 4), Neal (4 for 4), Duffer (4 for 4),
and Kirk Barnes (3 for 3) were perfect from the plate to power the team to a big 4-inning
victory, 28-6.
Next in line for Golden Corral was Jesse's Towing from
Lynchburg,VA. A 2-run blast from Neal got GC on the board in the first inning, but
there was little offense through the first three innings, with Jesse's leading 5-2.
In the fourth inning, The Corral got warmed up a bit (which wasn't that difficult with the
temperature already in the 90's) as Hudson and Hunt set the table for another big bomb
from Neal. More of the same followed as Owens and Eggleston added timely singles to
set it up for a Duffer 3-run shot that put GC up 8-6. After allowing but 1 run to
their opponents in the top of the fifth, GC opened it up with another big outburst that
saw consecutive hits from Hudson, Hunt, Neal, Owens, and Eggleston, and more hits later in
the inning from Henderson, C. Womack, Barnes, Mosley, and another from Hudson, Hunt, and
Neal before the inning finally ended with GC holding an 18-7 lead. Jesse's could
only manage 4 more runs and GC won it, 18-11.
Awaiting Golden Corral now was the always powerful Shen Valley
Eagles with whom some of the Golden Corral players have had some epic battles over
the past few years. Consistent hitting from the Eagles gave them the early advantage
in this one, but Golden Corral hung around through the first few innings and took the lead
in the fourth when Duffer, Conner, Henderson, C. Womack, Barnes, and Mosley all hit
safely, which was following by a rocket homer from Hunt that put GC up 14-8. Shen
Valley answered with 8 of their own and led 16-14 after four complete. GC added 6
more big runs in the sixth, with a big blast from Eggleston leading the way. Another
huge homer from Hunt in the seventh broke the 21-21 deadlock and gave GC a 24-21 lead, and
they held on in the seventh to win it. This was a big win for the team.
With no break in sight, GC hit the field again facing SoBo's
longtime nemesis, Jimmy's Automotive from Bedford. Jimmy's opened up a quick lead
and GC looked very winded early on. The Corral mustered up the energy in the fourth
to score 10 times and take a 17-10 lead, only to have Jimmy's get fired up and answer with
11 of their own in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead at 21-18. After an RBI
double from Neal left runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, GC quickly found the runners
still on base with 2 outs. Duffer, then, calmly stepped to the plate and delivered a
big 3-run bomb, on an ill-advised decision to pitch to him, and made the score, 22-21
Golden Corral. Both teams added one more run for the final of 23-22, as one of
Jimmy's powerful batters lined out with the winning run on base.
This pitted Golden Corral against a team from Radford (the old
Wolfgang team), who had been racking up a lot of runs all weekend long with some big
victories. GC rolled early behind big base hits and Duffer's first inning homer to
lead 5-0. GC, however, running low on energy at this point, failed to score in the
middle innings and let this one slip away. Radford had to big 9-run top of the
seventh, and a line drive 2-run homer from C. Womack was all GC could manage in the bottom
half, losing the game, 20-14.
This marked the second tournament in a row that Golden Corral has
lost its first game of a double elimination and fought all the way back to the "medal
round" games. To weeks ago in Petersburg, The Corral won 6 straight before
finishing 2nd, and this past weekend, winning 4 "back-to-back" games before
finishing 3rd. Let's try the shortest route to the finals next time, how about it?
:)
Team Leaders: *Kevin Neal (.810, 3 HRs), *Matt Hunt (.762, 2 HRs), JoJo
Owens (.615, 1 HR), *Kirk Barnes (.611),
Tuffy Eggleston (.605, 6 HRs), Curtis Duffer added 7 HRs. *played
Sunday only