By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
JONESBORO — It was a lot of games in a lot of heat, but it turned out to be well worth the effort.
Cabot’s American Legion A team won the Fat City Classic over the weekend by walloping Dyersburg (Tenn.) 13-0 in the championship game to complete a 5-1 through the tourney. Cabot got a balanced and potent attack from its lineup, collecting two hits each from Andrew Reynolds, Matthew Turner, Powell Bryant, Tyler Erickson and Matt Evans.
“This was real sweet for us,” said Cabot coach Andy Runyan. “We didn’t win a 5-team round robin tournament. This was 24 teams from four different states. This is the first championship in the program here for this young Legion bunch.”
Bryant was the big man with the stick over the weekend, going 13 for 24 with a home run and nine RBI.
Cabot (7-1-1) opened pool play on Friday with a 12-2 win over Harrisburg, then dropped its only game, 6-5 to East Poinsett County, on Saturday morning. Cabot came back to beat Malden (Mo.) 17-0 later in the day, and reached bracket play on the runs-allowed tiebreaker.
They opened with a 12-0 win over West Plains (Mo.) on Sunday morning before having to survive a dramatic game with Jonesboro Fat City. Cabot took a 5-1 lead when Reynolds, who had sprained his elbow in the previous inning and couldn’t swing the bat, laid down a drag bunt with the bases loaded.
Fat City closed the gap to 5-4 and had the tying run on third with two outs in the final inning when Evans, on in relief of starter and winner Cole Nicholson, struck out the clean-up hitter to preserve the win.
Nicholson struck out five over six innings.
“We were running low on our pitching and Nicholson came in and threw a heck of a game,” Runyan said. “And that was against a team that went 33-4 last year in Single A Legion ball.”
Erickson picked up the victory and also belted a home run against Malden, while C.J. Jacoby tossed a 1-hit shutout against West Plains.
