DAVIDSON — The heat at the ballpark took its toll on the Rockingham Pony All-Stars Wednesday night, as they were eliminated from the PONY regional tournament by Little Creek, 4-2.

Cody Leviner took the mound for Rockingham, and struggled a bit in the top of the first, allowing three straight singles to load the bases.

Leviner collected himself on the mound and set down the next three batters that faced him with a strike out and a double play.

Both teams had trouble finding their offensive groove early: It took five full innings for either side to crack the scoreboard.

Rockingham struck first with a two-run bottom of the fifth, but Little Creek answered back with a solo homer in the top of the sixth, adding three runs in the top of the seventh.

Leviner went the distance for Rockingham team, allowing four earned runs, and striking out five.

J.T. Taylor and Bradley Brown drove in the two runs for Rockingham, which looked to back in business in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out double by Adam Sweatt. But Rockingham couldn’t capitalize on the runner in scoring position.

Little Creek took advantage of every gap that Rockingham had in the field, and scored its final two runs of the game on a stand up double.

Two of the three Little Creek baserunners in the top of the seventh made it on base with grounders in the hole between short stop and third base.

Rockingham played an excellent game defensively.

For many of the Rockingham All-Stars, it was their final recreation league tournament, as some will move on to play high school baseball next year.

Tuesday’s late game

Rockingham 12, West Piedmont 7

Tuesday night, the Rockingham Pony All-Stars came to the ballpark with one thing in mind: Staying alive.

They did that with a victory over West Piedmont that set up a rematch against the Little Creek team that handed them their first loss of the Pony All-stars tournament.

Rockingham was able to find its offense Tuesday night, scoring runs in the second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

The best offensive output was in the sixth and seventh as Rockingham pushed four runs across the plate in each frame.

Rockingham didn’t rely on the long ball, as it did in Asheboro. Instead the team mounted a consistent hitting attack, with only one extra-base hit.

That extra base hit came in the top of the seventh as Taylor McLean came off the bench and hit a triple. He later scored when a wild pitch got past the catcher.

Elijah Goodwin was called upon to take the mound for the Rockingham, and never let the West Piedmont team find its stride at the plate.

Goodwin worked two-and-a-third scoreless innings, striking out four batters.

Goodwin, having used his innings for the night, was replaced by Bradley Brown.

Brown nicely followed Goodwin’s strong performance, pitching two and two-thirds innings, striking out six and allowing one hit and no runs.

The game seemed to be locked up for Rockingham headed into the bottom of the sixth inning, with Rockingham leading 8-0.

However, West Piedmont did not go quietly, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-7 contest.

It was an all-too-familiar scenario for Rockingham and its fans, as a lead looked to be slipping away for the second straight night in late innings.

Adam Sweatt came in to pitch, however, mound, and he got the third out of the sixth inning, going on to finish out the game allowing no hits and striking out one.

Rockingham scored four runs in its half of the seventh, giving Sweatt some breathing room as he took the mound for what turned out to be a scoreless seventh.

Rockingham coach Robert Steele was pleased to see his team rebound from a disappointing loss Monday night.

“The team hit the ball tonight, they communicated with each other and it was a collective effort at the plate,” said Coach Robert Steele.



n Contact sports reporter Travis Anderson at 997-3111 ext. 44 or via e-mail at tanderson@yourdailyjournal.com