STATE-TOURNEY BOUND
Elkins 11-12-year-olds hold off Tucker County to advance
ELKINS – The Elkins 11-12-year-old All-Stars earned a berth in the state tournament with a 7-6 win over Tucker County Thursday night in the District 8 loser’s bracket finale at Melvin Heckel Field at Riverbend Park.
Elkins will now travel to Huntington on July 20 for the state tournament.
Thursday’s contest was orginally scheduled to be played at Summersville on Wednesday, but was postponed due to the weather and moved to Elkins to accomodate both teams in terms of driving.
Tucker County jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Wenkai Campbell reached on a hit-bats-man and later scored on Maddox Anderson’s infield single.
In the second inning, Elkins drew even when Gage Huffman and Ethan Humphrey cracked two-out singles, with Huffman later crossing home to make it 1-1.
Elkins took the lead for good in the following inning when Rylan Wymer doubled and later scored.
Elkins extended the lead to 4-1 in the fourth with a pair of runs and tacked on three more in the fifth to build a 7-1 advantage.
Three Tucker County errors and an RBI from Gavin Carr accounted for Elkins’ runs in the fifth.
Tucker County, however, battled back, scoring twice in the fifth to cut the lead to 7-3, using singles from Campbell and Anderson, walks to Ethan Rosenau and Aaron Quattro and a wild pitch.
Elkins reliever Cameron Biller prevented any further damage by fanning two batters with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Tucker County again rallied in the sixth inning, plating three more runs.
Campbell had a run-producing double in the frame to score a run, while Blake Helmick and Blake Adams, who had reached on a bunt single, also crossed home.
Cole Shreve turned in a gutsy performance on the mound to earn the win for Elkins.
He went 4 1/3 innings and struck out 10.
Wymer and Biller also saw time on the mound.
Anderson started for Tucker County and was relieved by Campbell.
Wymer had two hits and scored twice to lead Elkins at the plate.
Campbell was 2 for 3 for Tucker County, scoring three times from the lead-off spot.
Elkins (7)
Jaxson Drennen 2b 4 0 1, Cameron Biller cf 3 1 0, Rylan Wymer 3b 3 2 2, Gavin Carr ss 3 1 1, Cole Shreve p 3 0 0, Lincoln Scott c 2 1 0, Gage Huffman 1 1 1, Drew Hinzman rf 1 0 0, Ethan Humphrey 1b 2 0 0, Chase Burrows 1b 1 0 0, Dylan Hinzman lf 1 0 0, Ethan McCarty lf 0 1 0. Totals 24 7 5
Tucker County (6)
Wenkai Campbell ss 3 3 2, Mason Kisamore c 3 1 1, Ethan Rosenau cf 3 0 0, Maddox Anderson p 3 0 1, Aaron Quattro 3b 2 0 0, Justin Robeson lf 2 0 0, Ashton Lycliter 1b 3 0 1, Blake Helmick 2b 3 1 0, Blake Adams rf 3 1 1. Totals 25 4 6
Elkins 011 230 — 7 5 2
Tucker County 100 021 — 4 6 3
WP — Shreve. LP — Anderson