Taylor County Little League Baseball Round-Up

TAYLOR COUNTY’S 9-10-YEAR-OLD ALL-STAR TEAM! TAYLOR COUNTY’S 11-12-YEAR-OLD ALL-STAR TEAM!

GRAFTON -- Both of the Taylor County Little League Baseball Association’s All-Star Teams were eliminated from sanctioned tournament action, after each team had played only three games, and produced matching 1-2 records.

The 9-10-Year-Old Taylor County All-Stars lost a 20-1 decision to the Bridgeport All-Stars, before bouncing back to beat the Shinnston All-Stars, 14-7, and then losing to the Worthington (of Parkersburg) All-Stars, 11-0.

Manager Mike Moats’ Taylor County squad was collecting a three-game total of 14 hits against that competition.

Against Bridgeport, on June 24, here at Anna Jarvis Park, Logan Beltner, Garrett Moats and Chase Setler were credited with a single apiece, and Isaac Shahan -- who wound up as the losing pitcher -- scored the only run.

In the win over Shinnston, on June 26, back here at Anna Jarvis Park, (Garrett) Moats was the winning pitcher. Meanwhile, his teammates were busy pounding out a total of 11 hits.

That group included: Setler with a double and a single; Beltner with a pair of singles; Shahan with a pair of singles; Garrett Williams with a two-run homer; Dylan Massie with a triple; Hunter Slaton also with a triple; Devin Vanscoy with a double; and Chris Miller with a single.

Then, Taylor County failed to collect a hit in a June 27 loss to Worthington, by an 11-0 score, during a contest that was played in Bridgeport, with Setler getting tagged with the mound loss for our local squad.

Taylor County’s 9-10-Year-Old All-Star Team (featured in the left-hand photo, below this story) included: Beltner, (Garrett) Moats, Setler, Shahan, Williams, Massie, Slaton, Vanscoy, Miller, Cabell Bolyard, Zodak Keener and Mark Irvine of the Yankees.

That group was managed by (Mike) Moats, with Dale Miller and Chris Setler serving as assistant coaches.

The 11-12-Year-Old Taylor County All-Stars opened their tournament play with a 16-5 loss to the Bridgeport All-Stars, before bouncing back to beat the Clarksburg/Salem All-Star Team, 15-3, and then being shut out by the Shinnston All-Stars, 15-0.

On June 30, at Mary Lou Retton Park in Fairmont, Taylor County only recorded three hits against Bridgeport, but there were a couple of long ones in the mix.

Zach Shumaker cracked a two-run homer in the first inning, and then Jake Williams smacked a three-run shot in the third inning.

The other hit for manager Brian Lough’s Taylor County All-Star Team during that first game was a single by Cameron Forte, who also wound up as the losing pitcher.

Back at Mary Lou Retton Park, on Sunday, July 1, Taylor County produced a dozen hits, including three more home runs, during their win over Clarksburg/Salem.

Dominic Lough picked up the mound victory.

The 12 hits were credited to: Shumaker with a three-for-three day at the plate, including a solo home run, a triple, and a single; Austin Johnson with a three-run homer, and a single; Forte with a first-inning, lead-off home run, and a single; Tommy Newlon with two singles; Lough with a double; and the duo of Cade Peters and (Jake) Williams with a single apiece.

Then, here at Anna Jarvis on Tuesday, July 3, the Taylor County All-Stars suffered a 15-0 loss to Shinnston.

Shumaker lined a fourth-inning single into right field, which proved to be the only hit of the contest for our local team.

Forte, the starter, wound up on the wrong end of the pitching decision to show for his second trip to the mound during these play-offs. He was relieved by Lough, (Jake) Williams and Shumaker.

Taylor County’s 11-12-Year-Old All-Star Team (featured in the right-hand photo, below this story) included: Shumaker, (Jake) Williams, Forte, (Dominic) Lough, Johnson, Newlon, Peters, Dillon Williams, Noah Hodges, Austin Young and Ryan Hess. They were managed by (Brian) Lough, with Phil Peters and Keith Hodges serving as assistant coaches.