By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot-Centennial Bank junior American Legion baseball team picked up three wins to start the season in the annual Memorial Day tournament at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
The tournament started on Friday with Cabot coming from behind twice to beat the Beebe-White team 4-3. On Saturday, Logan Gilbertson pitched a gem in a 3-1 win over Maumelle, and on Sunday, Cabot walked its way to an 11-1 victory over Jacksonville-Blue to win its pool. Monday’s semifinals and final were called off due to storms.
“They played really well for the most part,” said Cabot coach Casey Vaughn, who is normally the senior team assistant coach but filled in for junior coach David Smith for this tournament. “We didn’t take advantage of a few scoring opportunities. We loaded the bases a couple times and didn’t score much off those situations. But overall it was a pretty good tournament. Most of this team will probably be starting for the high school varsity next year. It’s a pretty talented group, very athletic bunch of guys and they’ve been playing together for a long time.”
In Friday’s win over Beebe, Cabot loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, but managed just one run after a pair of infield pop-ups.
The O’Reilly’s Auto Parts team scored two runs in the second inning to move into the lead. Cabot tied it in the fourth inning but Beebe scored in the top of the sixth to go up 3-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Nick Belden hit an RBI single that tied the game. Brett Brockinton took the mound and held Beebe without a hit in the top of the seventh, and Cabot needed just one at-bat in the bottom of the last inning to end the game.
Blake McCutchen hit a leadoff triple down the right field line, and a wayward throw allowed him to score on the walk-off play.
Brockington got the win on the mound as the second reliever. Dylan Billingsley started and got the no decision, and Will Jerry pitched middle relief.
Against Maumelle, Gilbertson got it done with his arm and his bat. He threw a complete game for the victory, going six innings, throwing 83 pitches and striking out 11. He also bounced one over the right-field wall for a two-RBI ground-rule double in the bottom of the fifth inning that scored Brockinton and Jerry.
Cabot’s first run of the game came in the first inning. Brockinton singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Dillon Thomas.
The win over Jacksonville featured 11 walks and five Jacksonville errors. Brockinton had three hits to lead the way offensively, but everyone in the Cabot lineup walked at least once.
Ty Cyr got the win on the mound for Centennial Bank.
The Cabot junior team’s next scheduled game is at 6 p.m. tonight at Sheridan. The senior team is also scheduled to begin its season tonight at 7:30 at home against Texarkana.
