OLD DOCK – The Whiteville Optimist All-Stars battled back from a 3-1 deficit with five runs in the top of the fourth inning and added five more runs in the final two frames as they defeated Bladen County 11-5 Tuesday in the third round of the District 2 Dixie Youth Baseball Tournament.

The once-beaten Whiteville Optimist squad took on unbeaten Columbus County in Wednesday night’s championship round. See result in A-section.

The Whiteville Optimist team avenged a 4-3 opening-round loss to Bladen County with a strong hitting attack and some solid relief pitching by Gary Vereen.

Lance Caffee, Frank Ciamillo and Hunter Smith each had two hits to pace the Whiteville batting attack. Smith knocked a triple and scored three runs while Caffee and Nathan Butner each had a double. Ciamillo and Jermal Davis each scored two runs.

Vereen relieved Ciamillo on the mound in the second inning and held the Bladen County team scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning when he began to tire. Smith came on in relief to retire the final two batters.

Nick Peavy had two hits for Bladen County and Darron Burney hit a double. A.J. McKoy added a single. The loss eliminated Bladen County from the tournament.

MONDAY’S GAMES

Whiteville Optimist 21
Nakina 6

Trailing 5-3 after three innings, the Whiteville squad took command with three runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth. They closed out their scoring with 11 runs in the top of the sixth.

Whiteville collected 15 hits, including four home runs. Lance Caffee blasted two homers while Luke Pait and Nathan Butner each hit one round-trippers. Hunter Smith had four hits, including a double, while Frank Ciamillo had two hits, including a double. Justin White and Caffee each pitched three innings.

Nakina scored five runs in the fifth inning on four walks, a double by Nathan Norris and a single by Alex Jeffries. Jeffries and Norris each had two hits for Nakina, which suffered its second straight tournament loss. Nakina had fallen to Columbus County 5-1 in Sunday’s opening round.

Columbus County 4
Bladen County 3 (7 innings)

Derrick Bracey pitched a complete game victory and hit a home run for the Columbus County squad as it picked up its second straight tournament win.

Columbus County got the game-deciding run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Hyland Tyler walked, moved to third on a single by Dillon Faulk and scored on an infield error of a grounder by Taylor Stevens.

Bracey struck out 14 batters. Faulk had two hits and Ryan Sykes had a double as the win gave Columbus County a bye in Tuesday’s third round of play.

Darron Burney had three hits for Bladen County while A.J. McKoy, Deonta Antone and Charlie Smith had one hit each.