By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
It was a long, mostly dismal weekend for Gwatney Chevrolet American Legion. The senior Chevy Boys were routed twice by Searcy in games in which they led or were tied in the late innings.
The junior team went 1-2, taking 13-3 and 19-1 shellackings at the hands of Searcy and routing North Little Rock 12-4 on Saturday in a game in which shortstop Jacob Abrahamson turned a triple play.
The junior Chevy Boys led 3-1 in the fourth inning on Friday at Searcy, but surrendered six runs in the fourth and five in the fifth in a 13-3 loss.
Devon McClure and Chris McClendon had RBI singles for Gwatney.
But the junior boys bounced back to trounce North Little Rock on Saturday. After trailing 2-0, Gwatney sent 15 men to the plate in the third and scored nine to put it away. Abrahamson had a single, triple, two runs and two RBI.
The Colts put their first two on in the fourth when magic struck for the Chevy Boys. Abrahamson snagged a hard liner at short, stepped on second and threw to Brandon Russell at first to complete a triple play.
Gwatney added three more runs in the fifth to finish off a 12-4 win. McClure had two hits and two runs and Zach Traylor had a single, two runs and two RBI.
The senior Chevy Boys fell behind 2-0 to Searcy on Friday, but Marshall Shipley’s RBI double in the second and Patrick Castleberry’s RBI single in the fifth tied it.
Searcy, though, erupted for eight in the fifth.
In Sunday’s rematch at Dupree Park, Gwatney fell behind 5-0 in the third, but rallied for six runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a one-run lead. They held on until Searcy tied it with a run in the fifth, then scored three in the sixth and four in the seventh.
Gwatney got doubles from Castleberry, Seth Tomboli, Jared Toney, Michael Harmon and A.J. Allen, and singles by McClure and Daniel Thurman in its six-run third.
Gwatney juniors and seniors hosted Cabot last night in a game played after Leader deadlines. The seniors host the 20th annual American Legion Classic this Thursday through Sunday at Dupree Park.
The juniors begin zone tournament play this weekend at Burns Park.
