Published: July 19, 2008 01:21 am            

LITTLE LEAGUE: HYR tops it off, wins section title

Highlander Youth Recreation scored six runs in the final two innings, earning an 8-4 win over Center Grove and a berth in the 11-year-old All-Star state finals.

The state finals starts Wednesday and runs through Saturday next week in Terre Haute.

After four innings, it looked like HYR — which owned a 1-0 lead in the Best-of-three series — would have to wait another day to celebrate a Sectional 6 championship.

Center Grove broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but HYR responded with three of its own in the top of the fifth.

Brandon Hanna walked to open the fifth, bringing up the top of the HYR order, which has been nothing but successful for the past two weeks.

Austin Newell doubled to the fence for his third hit of the night. With runners on first and second, Trey Fulton dribbled the ball in front of the pitcher. The runners held, but Fulton reached first to load the bases with no one out.

After Hanna scored on a wild pitch to cut Center Grove’s lead to 4-3, Joey Collins grounded out to second, but Newell came home to tie the game. The next batter, Spencer Dauphinee, grounded the ball to the shortstop, who threw home, but not in time to get Fulton, who came across for the go-ahead run.

“After about the fourth inning, the kids realized we could lose the game if we don’t straighten up,” HYR coach Rick Fulton said. “We were a little fatigued (in the beginning). We’ve played a lot of baseball the last few days. We’ve got kids in the game playing for travel teams and they’ve played a lot of baseball. ”

After Trey Fulton shut down Center Grove 1-2-3 in the fifth, the top of the order struck again for HYR.

Back-to-back doubles by Fulton and Collins and a single by Dauphinee produced two more runs to give HYR an 8-4 cushion.

“When (the top of the order) is hitting, they’re hard to get out,” Coach Fulton said. “Behind Trey and Austin, you got Joey Collins and Spencer Dauphinee, and they don’t make outs very often, especially with runners on the bags.”

Newell continued to be a standout leadoff hitter, going 3-for-4 with a run and a double.

“He doesn’t chase a lot of bad stuff and he’s fast,” Coach Fulton said. “If they bobble it, he’s there. There’s no room for error when him on the base paths. He’s that fast.”

HYR’s only error of the series was the only blemish on the final inning, but Trey Fulton struck out Derek Grimmer to end the game.

“It’s exciting. I’m happy for them,” Fulton said. “I don’t think anyone’s worked harder than these kids. They’ve earned it. They deserve it.”

Trey Fulton went 4-for-4 with two doubles. He scored three times and had an RBI. Collins reached base three times, had two RBI and scored twice. Dauphinee went 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly RBI.

HYR will return to the state finals, this time looking a state title.

“I think we’ll be competitive with anyone,” Fulton said. “We were there last year (in the 9-10-year-old state tournament) and got a lot of experience. This year, I think we’re five times better than we were last year.”

        

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