Cartersville Fades Late in Opener

Columbus American scored seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to pull away from host Cartersville in a 10-3 win today to start the Little League Baseball Georgia State Championship Tournament.

Cartersville’s Bailey Campbell and American’s Tyler Rebber matched each other in pitching shutouts through four innings.

Rebber was dominant over the first 3 1/3 innings. He allowed only one hit, a single by Bryson Jones in the second, and had seven strikeouts before giving way to Jackson Mellenberg because of his pitch count.

Campbell was just as effective, allowing only two hits in the first four innings and pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning when he got Tyler Pace to ground out to first. He had seven strikeouts and struck out the side in the fourth.

He quickly retired the first two hitters in the fifth and seemed to be cruising when the Columbus bats came to life.

Alex Royal banged a double off the fence in left, and Mellenberg singled to bring Royal home and break the tie. After an intentional walk of Rebber, Pace came up in another clutch situation, and this time he came through.

His sinking line drive evaded the diving left fielder and reached the fence for a double, and American took a 3-0 lead after five innings.

Cartersville came back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run by Preston Martin that scored Jake Hacker. Martin’s blast slammed into the batting cages well beyond the right-field fence at Joe Frank Harris Field.

But Campbell was done pitching for the day, and American teed off on relievers Spencer Dickey and Auston Davis. After managing five hits in five innings against Campbell, American had five more in the sixth inning, including a home run by Gage Brown.

Cartersville trailed 10-2 going to the bottom of the sixth, the last inning. Davis hit a two-out home run, only Cartersville’s third hit, to give the hometown fans at some hope for a purple-and-gold comeback.

But a Jones groundout to short ended the game.

Columbus takes the early lead in Pool A at 1-0, tied with East Marietta, which beat Walton County later in the afternoon, 11-1. Cartersville and Walton are tied at 0-1, and Masters City hasn’t played yet.

By the end of pool play Wednesday night, all five teams will have played one another, and the top two teams will advance to the semifinals Thursday.

Cartersville has Sunday off, then plays East Marietta at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

All games are free. Parking is $5 a day or $20 for the tournament.