ROGERS — The Northwest Arkansas All-Stars used another quick start to win another championship.
The All-Stars scored all of their runs in the first two innings to beat Jonesboro 6-1 and claim the 16-18-year-old North Arkansas Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament at Veterans Park on Monday.
The back-to-back state champs advance to the Southwest Regional at Eagle Pass, Texas, later this month.
The All-Stars jumped to a 7-0 lead in Sunday’s 16-3 win against Jonesboro to force Monday’s winnertake-all title game.
They scored four timeson four hits in the first inning Monday, getting tworun hits by Chris Huebner and winning pitcher Keevan Allen.
James Shorted added a RBI double before scoring on a wild pitch in the second inning for 6-0 lead.
Brandon Easterling and Derek Swan each had two hits in the win and tournament most valuable player Nick Brill, who hit two home runs Sunday as the All-Stars stayed alive, had a hit and a run.
Allen scattered six hits and struck out four in the complete-game win. He was backed by a solid defensive effort.
Caleb George led Jonesboro with two hits, and relief pitcher Blake Wheeler held the All-Stars scoreless in four-plus innings of work.
Sunday’s victories
The Northwest Arkansas All-Stars won two games Sunday to force a deciding championship game Monday at the 16-18-year-old North Arkansas Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament.
The All-Stars beat Jonesboro 16-3 Sunday night, and the teams met again Monday to vie for a trip to the Southwest Regional at Eagle Pass, Texas.
Derek Swan and Nick Brill combined for six hits and six RBIs in the win.
The All-Stars batted around in the top of the first inning, scoring seven runs on five hits and four Jonesboro errors.
Brill added a three-run home run in the third, and Swan and Brill had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth to trigger the mercy rule.
Josh Baker scattered four hits and struck out three in the five-inning victory.
Brill had four hits and five RBIs, including a tworun shot in the sixth, as the All-Stars beat Westark 9-3 earlier Sunday to advance to the title game.
16-year-old Tournament NWA All-Stars 9, Bentonville 2
Colby Schooley had four hits and Ryan Roughton and Mitchell Kahl each had three as the Northwest Arkansas All-Starswon the 16-year-old state tournament for the third year in a row.
Roughton had a RBI single in the third to break a scoreless game and Schooley followed with a two-run single.
Kahl, named the tournament MVP, tripled and scored on Roughton’s fourth-inning double for a 6-0 lead.
Roughton and Kyle Langston each had RBI doubles in the sixth and Schooley finished the scoring with a RBI single.
Roughton and Schooley had three RBIs each.
Bentonville’s Stefan Smith and Andrew Halliburton each had two hits in the loss.
Both teams will play in the Southwest Regional Invitational in Fort Smith.
Bentonville beat Gentry 9-6 on Sunday to earn a rematch with the Northwest Arkansas All-Stars.
The All-Stars beat Bentonville 7-5 late Saturday in the semifinals.
Stefan Smith had three hits and Andrew Halliburton and Craig Salvatore each hit two-RBI singles in the win.
Gary Williamson, who started a late-game rally with a two-run single, had two hits for Gentry. Gentry beat Westark 7-3 earlier Sunday to advance.
The All-Stars’ Shane Perkins had two hits in Saturday’s win against Bentonville, including the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth.
Sports, Pages 6 on 07/14/2010