So far so good for the Washington baseball teams participating in the Little Tar Heel League District 6 tournament in Jamesville as the All-Stars remain alive in each age bracket as they approached midweek.
Heading into Thursday night’s games, Washington remained in the hunt in the 8U, 10U and 12U brackets.
Chip Edwards, the Washington Cal Ripken League/Little Tar Heel League president, said so far the All-Stars have been up to the challenge of tourney play.
“We’ve played as expected,” Edwards said. “We did not expect any of our teams to go in and beat everybody by the 10-run rule. On the other hand, we also didn’t expect for each team to go and play two games and go home.
“We expected them to perform well and show good sportsmanship, which they certainly have, and represent Washington well.”
Edwards coaches the 8U All-Stars and has been pleased with what he’s seen so far.
“The 8-year olds won their first round game against the host Jamesville 6-2 with a very good defensive effort,” Edwards said. “Holding a team to two runs in the 8U division is pretty good baseball.
“(On Tuesday night) we played against a team that I would consider to be the best in the district in Edenton and we just couldn’t get the bats going, but we still played great defense and only gave up six runs but we couldn’t get any runs on the board. … Defensively this team has played wonderful and has far exceeded the expectations of the coaches.”
The Washington 10U All-Stars have also been strong and brought a 3-1 record into Thursday night’s action.
“The 10Us have played four games so far and lost to Jamesville 9-8 in a very hotly contested game, but they won their other three games by the 10-run rule,” Edwards said. “They are a super hitting team. I believe they have six home runs in four games.”
The Washington 11U All-Stars are competing in the 12U bracket and have managed to hold their own and were 1-1 going into Thursday night’s games.
“They’re a bit of an underdog because of their age but they have played extremely well,” Edwards said. “They lost (Tuesday) night to a very good Tarboro team for their first loss. … They are a good all-around team. They do everything well: hit the ball, play defense and pitch. They’re very consistent.”
The 12Us have been consistent as well and were still undefeated after two games.
“They have done everything well, especially pitched,” Edwards said. “They’ve hit the ball really well and they’re pitching has been very good.”