Lawrence County 8U All Stars win back-to-back tournaments now going to state

STAFF REPORT

BSN

Lawrence County 8U All Stars have been on a roll the last couple of weekends. They started out by going 4-0 to capture their first tournament championship of the year, winning The Battle on the Big Sandy in Kenova, WV, on June 8-9. They outscored their opponents 61-19 and took down Tug Valley in the championship game.

Next step was to win the East Kentucky District 3 Championship. In order to do that they would need to win 4 games over 4 days at Stonecrest Park in Prestonsburg.

First game, they go their bats rolling in a 21-2 win over Martin County All Stars. Next up was Belfry, where it was a close game the first several innings until Lawrence County pulled away to win 13-5 to move on to the winners bracket championship against the Pikeville All Stars.

That was a really close game where Lawrence County pulled out a 8-4 win to move into the district championship unbeaten in a double elimination tournament which turned out to be huge.

Pikeville rolled through the losers bracket to set up the district championship where Lawrence County only needed one win and Pikeville needed two. Pikeville came out hot and stayed hot, winning the first game 15-7, setting up a winner takes all second game of the day between the two teams.

Lawrence County showed up in the second game and their bats got rolling early and often to plate six runs in the first inning to take a 6-1 lead after one inning. Defense for both teams played great the rest of the game, limiting scoring opportunities for both teams in which Lawrence County pulled out to win the District Championship, 10-4, outscoring their opponents 59-30, over the five games. This 2024 District 3 championship makes five years in a row that Lawrence County 8U All Stars have won the District Championship.

Back-to-Back championship weekends for these boys and they aren’t done yet. They will be heading to Lexington in a couple of weeks looking to keep it rolling and make a run at a state championship.

Most of this team was a part of the 7U State Championship team from last year and several have been a part of winning back-to-back 7U state championships.

2024 District 3 Championship roster includes: Ty Muncy, Easton Osborne, Colton Bentley, Cory Keeton, Eli Block, Waylon Raines, Debo Black, David West, Zayne Powell, Braxton Young, Colton Crum and Titan Hounshell. Coaches are Caleb Bentley, Ricky Osborne, Ronald Young and Bobby Keeton.