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Tigers take regional championship
DeKalb headed for state championship
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SALLEY - photo by Photo by Reed Vanderpool
The DeKalb County Tiger baseball team has won the regional championship, and is headed for the state tournament for the second year in a row.DeKalb clinched the top spot in the region Friday afternoon with a 12-2 win in five innings over the East Hamilton Hurricanes in Smithville.The Tigers scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning, setting the pace for the rest of the contest.East Hamilton scored one run in the second inning and one in the fourth, while DeKalb added three more runs to the tally in the bottom of the third inning, and four more in the fifth.The Tigers made no errors, and scored twelve runs on six hits in five innings.The Hurricanes scored two runs on seven hits, recording three errors.Cody Puckett, took the win on the mound, facing 22 batters in five innings and giving up two runs on seven hits.Puckett struck out five batters and walked one.Offensively, Destry Wiggins hit a single and batted in a run, Evan Curtis had an RBI, Hunter Graham smacked a double and batted in two, Shane Salley hit 2 singles and a game winning sacrifice fly, gettind a RBI in the process. Tyler Kent batted one in, and Tyler Caldwell and Cody Puckett hit singles.The tigers will enter the annual Spring Fling with an overall 27-2 season record.As of press time, DeKalb is set to play Polk County on May 24 at 7 p.m. at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro. The Tigers will play the winner of the Lexington-Christ Academy of Knoxville game on May 25, again at Blackman at 7 p.m., if they defeat Polk County.A loss to Polk would put the Tigers into the loser’s bracket, forcing them into an elimination game on May 25 at 4 p.m., still at Blackman.The Tigers took the regional tournament crown last Wednesday night in Smithville, beating the Livingston Academy Wildcats 4-3 in a nine inning brawl.It was the fifth time the Tigers had faced the Wildcats this season, and for the fifth and final time, DeKalb came out on top.The contest was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning, when DeKalb slipped in two runs.The Wildcats answered in the top of the fifth inning with three runs of their own, and the Tigers tied it back up in the bottom of the fifth.The score remained at 3-3 until the bottom of the ninth, when Salley batted in the winning run.The Tigers scored 4 runs on eleven hits and made one error in the game.Livingston Academy scored three runs on six hits, with no errors.