Rickey Hale was a happy man after the NSA D State Tournament, at Cane Ridge Park in Nashville, on July 23-24. His team, WDGAS, finished in 2nd place out of a field of 38 teams.
“What a great effort. Our team was behind in three games by five or more runs, and found a way to win all of them,” according to Coach Hale. All-State honors went to Bray Page, Joey Davis, and Troy “Yogi” Yoes.
The tournament began on Saturday morning, as the locals prepared to play Forsythe Construction from the Jackson area. Both teams struggled offensively, but in the bottom of the fifth inning, WDGAS, broke open a 2-2 tie and scored eight runs to secure the win.
The second contest was against highly ranked TOPGUN from Livingston. The locals found a way to fight back, after falling behind, 14-7. In the bottom of the sixth inning, WDGAS scored ten runs and won the exciting game, 17-14.
In the third game on Saturday, the locals faced Public Enemy, who previously finished 2nd in the ISA D State Tournament. Once again, WDGAS found they were trailing 7-1, but went on a 16-0 run, winning the game 17-7. “They went to a five man infield, and we hit the left and right center field gaps,” according to Don Merriman.
Sunday morning began with a contest against Cain Development from Murfreesboro. After the locals put up five runs in the top of the first inning, the opponents answered with 11 in the bottom of the first. Again, the locals chipped away and won a slugfest 23-17. “Defense was an X factor, late in the game,” Matt Brown said.
The remaining two teams in the winner's bracket were WDGAS and number one- seeded Shatterstix, from Nashville. Shatterstix jumped out to an early lead and for the first time all weekend, WDGAS was unable to come from behind, losing 23-8.
Coach Hale's team played Kirklands from Fayetteville, who faced several opponents in the loser's bracket. The game went into extra innings when Troy “Yogi” Yoes ended the game with a dramatic walk off gap shot to right center field. “A huge double play in the top of the eighth inning was key for us,” Jason Pelham added.
Only two teams remained as the locals played Shatterstix to try and win the tournament. WDGAS started early by scoring seven runs in the first inning and won the game 15-5.
The State would be decided by two teams, each with only one loss against each other. Shatterstix made some tremendous plays defensively to win the State Championship 12-6. “What an incredible tournament; one I will never forget,” added Coach Hale.