DUDLEY LITTLE LEAGUE: District baseball/softball roundup, May 27-June 2

An exciting come-from-behind win for Dudley Little League’s “Red” coach pitch baseball team Sunday afternoon concluded a busy week of district 5 tournament action for the first seven of its baseball and softball all-star squads to open postseason play.

Teams representing Dudley in coach pitch, rookie and sandlot divisions competed at three sites between Macon and Dudley, the “Red” coach pitch all-stars holding down home turf at Scott Brown Field Sunday to bring home the district crown.

They completed their unbeaten five-game run in the tournament with a late-inning comeback to defeat Jones County 14-8. Both clubs will represent the district at the South Sectional tournament in Columbus Friday through Sunday.

Additional scenes from Sunday’s district final:

In the rest of last week’s district tournament action…

Dudley’s rookie (8U) and sandlot (9U) baseball all-star teams also advanced to district finals Sunday afternoon, each in Macon at the complex of Western Little League.

The rookie club compiled a 3-1 record leading up to Sunday’s championship game, but fell to undefeated Jones County. The sandlot all-stars, after capturing a first-round bye with a sweep of its round robin in Pool B, were defeated by Warner Robins American.

Both, however, will also move on to this weekend’s sectional tournament in Columbus.

Two early losses, to WRALL and Jones County, took the sandlot softball all-stars out of the running for a spot in Saturday’s final at Western, though the team was able to go out on a high note by defeating Vine-Ingle 13-1 in its final game Friday night.

Dudley entered a pair of teams – “red” and “blue” – in brackets of both the coach pitch baseball and softball tournaments, the softball side taking place at Macon’s Vine-Ingle Little League.

Its softball coach pitch squads, after early-week pool games, met one another to open the knockout portion of the single-elimination tournament Thursday, with the reds prevailing 20-3 to advance to the semifinals. There, they fell to WRALL, 16-8.

Red and blue coach pitch baseball squads also met up in front of home crowds early in their double-elimination bracket, with the eventual champs rolling to an 11-1 victory. The blue squad went on to pick up a 10-9 win over Western, before being eliminated by WRALL in a 13-11 heartbreaker Saturday.

The summer’s remaining district 5 tournaments, featuring all-star teams in higher baseball and softball age divisions, are scheduled to be held the weeks of June 17 and June 24. Dudley will be host of the 10U baseball tournament, beginning on the first of those.

MEET THE ALL-STARS:

Note: Names of players and coaches listed are not necessarily in order.