Kosciusko swept through its first three games of the Dixie Youth AA District IV Tournament held at Hugh Ellard Park, before dropping a 15-5 decision to Philadelphia in the last game of the event on Tuesday night before a large crowd.

The second-place finish earns Kosy a spot in the AA North State Tournament to be held in Amory beginning July 17.

The host team scored five runs on four hits in the top of the first inning on Tuesday night, but only managed one hit against Philly pitcher Terrell Ben the rest of the night.

Philadelphia scored four runs in the first,, two in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth and two in the fifth to take the win by the 10-run rule. Ben smacked a pair of doubles and two singles to lead the winners at the plate.

Jeremy Deason, Logan Fancher and Clark Dean all had first-inning singles for Kosciusko, while Brett White ripped a three-run triple down the right field line. White also had a single for Kosy to lead off the fourth inning.

Going into the tourney Kosciusko head coach Jeffrey Dean said pitching would be the key, but he expressed pleasure in the way his team hit the ball, outscoring opponents in the first three games 47-18.

"As a whole, we have hit the ball like we need to," Dean said. "We been able to bring people in (to pitch) and shut them down when we needed to. We have kind of meshed together."

Dean noted that the 10 9-year-olds on the team have been playing together for the last two years and gave credit to the two 10-year-olds for providing leadership and being key members of the squad.

Kosciusko's wins came over Sebastopol (23-4), Canton (15-6), and Carthage (9-8), while Philadelphia was also 3-0 going into Tuesday's title game with Kosy.

Philly's wins came over Carthage (9-6), Canton (17-0) and Sebastopol (19-1).



Kosy 23,

Sebastopol 4

Kosciusko scored 11 runs in the fourth inning to put away Sebastopol 23-4 in the first game of the tournament.

Fancher ripped a triple, double and single to lead the Kosciusko attack, while Cody Weeks banged out a pair of doubles and Deason, White, Cole Frank and Logan Burchfield had a pair of hits each.

Bryce Oakes pitched four strong innings for the winners in the game. Sebastopol only picked up four hits in the game, with no player getting more than one.



Kosy 15,

Canton 6

Kosciusko broke open a tight 7-6 game with five runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 15-6 win in Saturday's morning game for the local squad.

Dean had a pair of singles to lead the winners at the plate, while Weeks smacked a double.

Fancher, Dean and Deason all worked on the mound for the winners.



Kosciusko 9,

Carthage 8

Kosciusko scored six times in the top of the third and then held off a Carthage rally to take the one-run win in Saturday's late game.

White had a pair of singles to lead Kosy at the plate. Deason, Walker Yuille, Fancher, Dean, White and Oakes all scored for the winners in the big third inning.

Adonis Towner had three hits to lead Carthage.



Philadelphia 9,

Carthage 6

Jacob Waddell and Bryce McNair had a trio of hits each to lead Philadelphia to the win over Carthage on Friday night.

The winners scored three runs each in the first, fourth and fifth innings.

Parker Leitaker had a double and single to lead Carthage, while Tyler Pigg, Jake Alford and Jakenzy Leflore had two hits each.



Carthage 22,

Sebastopol 0

Keric Estep and Houston Strength combined on a four-inning no-hitter as Carthage picked up its first win of the tournament.

Towner, Estep, Rankin Kyzar, Rhett Kyzar and Strength had two hits each for Carthage, which scored 12 runs in the fourth inning.



Philadelphia 17,

Canton 0

Philadelphia scored 14 times in the third inning and Ben tossed a no-hitter while striking out eight in Philly's 17-0 win on Saturday night.

Cody Singleton ripped three singles for the winners, while Cooper Smith and Ben each had a double and Waddell had two singles.



Canton 8,

Carthage 6

Canton used a trio of singles from Caleb Hicks to squeeze out an 8-6 win over Carthage on Monday night.

Carthage jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to singles by Towner and Estep and a double off the bat of Leitaker.



Philadelphia 19

Sebastopol 1

Philadelphia ran its record to 3-0 for the tourney by scoring five times in the fifth and nine times in the sixth to roll to a 19-1 win over Sebastopol.

Kyler Coleman and Waddell combined for a no-hitter on the mound for Philadelphia, while Smith had four singles to lead the winners at the plate. Cole Kirkland added three singles for Philly, while Waddell had a single and double and Tekanian Bingham had a two-bagger.