Three Newton County All-Star teams trekked south with eyes on making it to the Dixie Youth World Series Saturday but it wasn't meant to be. The Newton County American minor team (9-10 year olds) rolled through its early opposition and had a chance to advance to the best-of-three finals with a win over Winder. They defeated Winder 3-0 Tuesday in the blue bracket double-elimination tournament in Leesburg. Instead, Winder bounced back to beat Newton American 9-5 and 9-8. The two Dixie Youth Majors teams (11-12 year olds) from Newton County were knocked out a day earlier. Playing in opposite brackets in their double-elimination tournament in LaGrange, both Newton American and National won their openers Saturday. National defeated Auburn 13-2 while American topped Baconton 19-2. Newton County American fought back after losing their second game to Pike County 9-8 to win their next two games before losing to Troup County National 12-2. Newton National lost Game 2 to Thomaston 16-1 then was eliminated after a 12-6 loss to Donalsonville Newton County American (minors) defeated Mountain Park Orange 12-8 in its opener then smoked Buford 13-2 Monday. Newton American remained undefeated with a 3-0 win over Winder Tuesday then defeated Mountain Park for a second time, 6-5. Post 77 loses playoff opener Conyers' (19-6) suffered a setback early, falling to Loganville 8-0 in the opening round on Friday. Post 77 managed just five hits, compared to 17 by Loganville, and is now in the loser's bracket and will play at 7 p.m. today. "We couldn't execute anything early on," Bagwell said. "We left baerunners stranded all over the place." Conyers has had trouble scoring as of late. Aaron Barfield took the mound for Conyers, giving up seven runs in four innings, before Ryan Gasque gave up one in the last three innings. However, with the way Conyers' offense has been going nothing short of a perfect game on the mound would have helped their cause. "In a nutshell, that's the story," Bagwell said. "We're not swinging it. If you're not scoring anything you still lose."
Newton All-Stars knocked out of state tourneys
Conyers Post 77 Legion team drops playoff opener in Albany
