Brax Chaney Field was the place to be this weekend as the Flora Boys Baseball program put on the 12 and under Wooden Bat Classic.
It was a good start as Flora went 3-0 in pool play and advanced to the championship round Sunday.
Sunday they defeated Mattoon in a semi-final game, before falling in the championship game of the tournament to Salem.
Flora first scheduled game of the tournament was to take place on Friday night, but lightning cut the game short as it was suspended.
They returned Saturday afternoon to take on Albion.
Flora dominated Albion from first pitch to the final out as they pounded out 15 runs in a rout.
Albion socred just two runs against the very tough Flora team as they short-gamed them 15-2.
The Salem 11 and under team was Flora’s next opponent.
It was a much closer game than their first, but Flora was still able to come away victorious.
Flora took an early lead againt the Salem 11 and under team when Bryce Pearce scored on an error in the first inning.
Salem answered in the top of the second inning with a run of their own to tie the game at one.
Flora quickly responded in their half of the second with a run to regain the lead, 2-1.
Salem tied the game in the top of the third, but once again Flora regained the lead when Adam Cox tripled then scored on a throwing error, putting Flora up 3-2.
Flora tacked on two more runs in the game and went on to win 5-2.
Their final game of the day on Saturday was their suspended game from Friday night against Mattoon’s 11 and under team.
Dylan Walker pitched a tremendous three innings for Flora and kept Mattoon scoreless.
Cox pitched inning for Flora and matched Walker by shutting out Mattoon.
Flora led 4-0 when lightning suspended the game for a second time, this time the game was official, giving the hometown team a perfect 3-0 record in pool play.
Their perfect pool play record matched them against Mattoon’s 12 and under team in the first semi-final game of the Wooden Bat Classic on Sunday.
It was total domination again for Flora as they cruised into the championship game with a 10-1 victory over Mattoon’s 12 and under.
Flora’s biggest inning came in the second when they batted around to score eight runs.
Flora led 10-1 after two innings of play and cruised through the next four innings setting up a championship game between them and Salem’s 12 and under team.
Salem also went 3-0 in pool play and defeated Mattoon’s 11 and under team in their semi-final game on Sunday.
Flora scored the first run of the game when Cox drove home Pearce with a triple. Cox was unable to score from third and Flora led 1-0.
Salem answered in the bottom of the first with three runs and took a commanding two run lead.
Tristan Litaker led off the second with a double to left field and moved to third on a single by Jordan Pride.
Jacob Whitehead hit a sacrifice fly to score Litaker and cut the Flora deficit to one, 3-2.
Unfortunately, Flora was unable to score the rest of the game and had to settle for a second place finish in the 6th Annual Wooden Bat Classic.
