Sneads Ozone claim district championship
By: Shelia Mader
The Sneads Ozone All-Stars showed up and showed out last weekend at Optimist Park. They faced off in game one Friday night against Liberty County and walked away with a 10-5 win. Saturday morning, they repeated their efforts with a 10-6 win over the same Liberty County team to claim the district championship and move on to the next round.
Sneads takes game one
The Pirates jump started their game Friday night, outscoring Liberty County 2-1 in the first inning before shutting them out 5-0 in the second inning. After a scoreless two innings, Liberty County added a run in the bottom of the fourth, with Sneads countering with three runs in the top of the fifth. Liberty County answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it wasn’t nearly enough for a comeback victory.
Glover Graham had the ball in his hands for the starting nod, went four and a third innings, gave up two runs on four hits, two walks, and struck out four batters. Karter Sheard came on for an inning, gave up three runs on two hits and struck out two batters. Jaxton Neel closed out the game, gave up no runs on two hits, no walks, and struck out two batters.
At the plate, every player contributed with either a hit, a walk, a run scored, or an RBI. Sneads was led by Jaxton Neel who took care of business on both sides of the field, with three hits, two runs scored, and two RBIs, followed by Abram Varieur with two hits, two runs scored, and one walk, while Clayton Lipford had two hits, a run scored, and two RBIs. On board with a hit and an RBI was Glover Graham, with Emery Godson and Gabe Williams adding a hit, a run scored, and a walk, while RG Griffin had a hit. Weston Lewis recorded a walk and scored a run, while Karter Sheard added a walk, with Max Lanier and Mark Hamilton both adding a run scored.
Championship game goes to SNEADS 10-6
The Sneads Ozone knew when their head hit the pillow Friday night, they were one game away from a district championship. They were more than ready for the challenge when they showed at Optimist Park for a repeat performance against Liberty County. They didn’t disappoint with a 10-6 win to take the win and the championship.
Max Lanier had the starting nod and picked up the win, giving up five runs, just two of those earned on four hits, five walks, and sat down five batters on strikes. Emery Goodson closed out the game, gave up one unearned run, zero earned runs on no hits, two walks, and struck out one batter.
Offensively, Emery Goodson led the way with two hits, one runs scored, and three RBIs, followed by Glover Graham three hits, one run scored, and two RBIs, followed by Max Lanier who had two hits, one run scored, and two RBIs. Karter Sheard was on board with one hit, two runs scored, and an RBI, while Gabe Williams had a hit, a walk, a run scored, and an RBI, and Clayton Lipford had a hit and an RBI. Abram Varieur had a hit and a run scored, with Weston Lewis recording a hit, and Jaxton Neel drawing two walks and scoring two runs, while RG Griffin scored a run.