Georgetown pulls upset in Dixie majors District opener

Ninety-six young sluggers from Horry and Georgetown County continued their quest to make Dixie Youth Baseball's state tournament on Monday night.

Both the minors and majors district tournaments began in Conway, with eight teams fighting for two spots in the statewide event.

The double-elimination tournaments will conclude on either Thursday or Friday night based on the week's action, and the winners will represent District 11 in the state tournament during the last week in July.

Here's a recap of Monday night's Majors games.

Georgetown 5, Surfside Beach 4 | The opening game of the majors tournament brought the shocker in postseason play. Surfside Beach, the widely-considered the favorite in the majors event, fell to a last-inning comeback by Georgetown.

Down 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, Georgetown loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. Taylor Bratcher and Brandon Cribb then hit singles to score two runs, and a ground ball by Kyle Taylor that squirted through the gap near third base scored the winning run for Georgetown.

Georgetown coach Kevin Goodall said he believed in his team all along.

``I had heard the chatter about Surfside being so good, but I knew we had a good club,'' Goodall said. ``Our guys just played as a team and it worked out.''

Though Surfside will have to win four consecutive nights to capture the district title, coach Gene Smith said he knows his team can do it.

``I hope they'll shake this one off and just come back and keep playing well,'' Smith said. ``I know we can still win the tournament, but it's a much harder road.''

Conway 10, Loris 4 | Conway had better luck in the majors tournament.

After jumping out to a 6-0 lead, Conway struggled in the sixth as Loris scored three runs and loaded the bases.

Though Conway had hoped to save ace Grant Holmes - a pitcher that has been clocked at throwing an equivalent of 95 mph on a regulation mound - for Wednesday's contest, they brought him in the game in the fifth. Holmes quickly shut down the rally.

``I was glad to be able to come in and help the team, but everyone really just hit the ball and played as a team,'' Grant said.

Holmes' entry brought into play a controversial pitching strategy. Coach Hunter Jenkins brought in a different pitcher after every two innings, trying to ensure each of his pitchers would be eligible for the next night's contest.

In accordance with Dixie Youth Baseball rules, a pitcher is eligible to pitch on consecutive days if he pitches two or less innings. Jenkins said his strategy almost faltered but ended up OK.

``If it works out, things are great,'' Jenkins said. ``You just have to take the chance.''

Surfside coach Gene Smith also used the strategy on Monday night in their 5-4 loss.