By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The second round of the Junior American Legion Zone 3 tournament was a bad one for the top seeded teams that had byes in the first round, and one of those teams was Cabot. The Centennial Bank squad fell 4-2 to tournament host North Little Rock on Monday at Burns Park, joining top seeded Pine Bluff Kell’s in the losers’ bracket after Kell’s lost to Sylvan Hills earlier in the day.
Cabot rebounded later in the day to beat Rose Bud 12-2 to stay alive in the tournament.
The Centennial squad just couldn’t get the bats going against Colt pitcher Nick Cleveland, who finished with a two hitter and carried a no hitter into the sixth inning.
Trailing 4-0, Cabot rallied in the sixth. Josh Dollarhide reached on an error at shortstop and Nick Thomas singled. Dollarhide then scored when North Little Rock flubbed a rundown, and Thomas scored on an RBI, sacrifice fly by Landon James.
But that would be all Cabot could muster in taking the loss.
Later that night, Cabot came back to play a spirited, but ultimately overmatched Rose Bud squad. The Razorbacks had been beaten 15-0 by Sylvan Hills in the first round, but came out firing on all cylinders early against Cabot.
The game remained tied at 2-2 through the fourth inning, but a huge fifth lifted the Centennial squad to victory.
It started with a single by Aaron McKenzie and didn’t stop until 15 batters later. Colby Seigler was hit by a pitch and Austin Null struck out for the first out, but the second one didn’t come until eight batters later, and Cabot had scored nine runs in that span. A single by Trent Frizzell loaded the bases, and James cleared them with a three-run double. Lee Sullivan was hit by a pitch and Jonathan Latture singled to score James.
Another run scored on an error off the bat of Devin Burke, and Trent Bulice singled to centerfield. Another single, this time to left by Seigler, scored two runs. A single to left by Null scored another run. Null scored the final run of the game on what should have been the final out of the inning. James struck out with Null on third, but the ball got by the Rose Bud catcher, allowing James to get to first and Null to score.
The day’s events left Cabot with a 14-10 overall record. The team faced Pine Bluff Kell’s in an elimination game last night after Leader deadlines.
Look for details of that game and the rest of the tournament in Saturday’s edition of The Leader.
