Featured photo by Bill Battle, Washington Missourian
The Bossier Phillies opened defense of their American Legion Mid-South Regional championship with a 21-8, five-inning victory over Mississippi the state champion Pontotoc Red Sox Wednesday in Washington, Mo.
Bossier, the Louisiana state champion, faces host team Washington in the winners’ bracket semifinals of the eight-team double-elimination tournament Thursday. The game will be played approximately 30 minutes after an elimination game between Tennessee champion Columbia and Moberly. Washington defeated Kansas champion Pittsburg 7-5 in the first round.
The Phillies trailed 2-0 after the first half-inning, but Pontotoc’s lead didn’t last long.
Bossier put eight on the board in the bottom half of the frame.
“We did not care at all,” Bossier’s Cole Snell told the Washington Missourian of falling behind. “We knew our hitting team was good enough to put 10 on them in one inning. It didn’t matter who the pitcher was. We have good hitters. That didn’t faze us one bit.”
Snell, a rising senior at Benton, picked up where he left off in the state tournament. He went 4-for-5 with a home run, double and four RBI.
His two-run home run came with two outs in the bottom of the first and gave Bossier the 8-2 lead.
The Phillies had 17 hits. Former Natchitoches Central standout Dillon Braxton went 3-for-4 with a triple.
Former Benton standout Griffin Sibley went 2-for-2 with a triple and three RBI.
Former Benton star Jackson Jones went 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI.
Former Parkway star Abel Thetford went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI.
Northwestern State sophomore Hudson Brignac, a former Benton standout, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Former Natchitoches Central standout Brock Laird and former Glenbrook star Easton Sanders had one and one RBI.
BPCC’s Brody Bower, a former Minden star, got the win. He scattered seven hits and struck out six in 4 2/3 innings.