The Lincoln County Americans and the Natchez All-Stars battled for the Sub-District championship Tuesday night at Keystone Park as both teams came out swinging in Game 1 of the Dixie Youth 8-year-olds Coach-Pitch AA Tournament.

Baseball fans watched a thrilling contest from start to finish as both teams fought hard in a close, back and forth offensive series until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Natchez managed to pull out the victory scoring four run to secured the win at 19-15 to end the Lincoln County Americans’ season.

The Natchez All-Stars will advance to play in the District Championship against the winner of the South Sub-District in a best-of-three series to see who will move on to the State Tournament in Kosciusko as the No. 1 seed.

Natchez 19, Lincoln Co. Americans 15 

In the first inning of action, the Americans came out and quickly got on the board as they plated one run to take a 1-0 lead. The Natchez All-Star would answer the Americans challenge in the bottom of the first inning by scoring two runs to take over the lead at 2-1.

In the second inning, the Americans battled back and reclaimed the lead at 3-2, but Natchez would bounce back to tie the contest by scoring one run to tie the game at 3-3.

After holding the Americans to a scoreless inning in the top of the third inning, Natchez managed to put together a five-run surge in the bottom of the third inning to take over the lead at 8-3.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Americans answered with a five-run inning to tie the game at 8-8. In the bottom of the fourth, Natchez continued their strong hitting attack and scored seven more runs to reclaim the lead at 15-8.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Americans refused to let the Natchez All-Stars take over the contest as they battled back into the game with a seven-run surge of their own to tie game once again at 15-15.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Natchez continued to apply pressure on Americans as they pushed four runs across the plate to take a 19-15 lead on the scoreboard.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Americans looked to keep their season alive as they came out swinging, but the Natchez All-Stars defense managed to put together some big plays to end the Lincoln County Americans’ season and win the tournament championship.

Lincoln County Americans hitters:  Gavin Reeves 1b, 1B. Mason Smith 1B. Taylor Myers 1B, 1B. Roland Day 1B, 1B, 1B. Luke Simmons 1B, 1B. Brayden Wilson 1B, 3B, HR. Taylor Livings 1B, 2B, 2B. Griffin Smith 1B. Eli Thornton 1B. Mason Orr 1B, 1B.

Natchez All-Stars hitters:  Cooper Wells 1B, 1B, 1B. Coleman Carter 1B, 1B, 1B. Blake Perkins 1B, 1B. Alex Pollard 1B, 1B, 1B, 3B. Fred Lane 1B. Bodi Brumfield 1B, 1B. Gabe Orr 1B. Sam Stout 1B, 2B. Scott Gwin 1B, 1B. Troy Dillon 1B. Doug Blanton 1B, 1B.