In the Little League Dugout: Phillies rally in sixth, win Hauver Tournament
By Bill Cauley
The sneak preview for the 2021 Brunswick Railroaders Little League season couldn’t have been a better one.
Trailing 4-2 with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Phillies scored three runs for a 5-4 win in the championship game of the Garel Hauver Tournament last Saturday at Marvin E. Younkins Memorial Park.
This is the second year for what will be an annual pre-season tournament, named in honor of the late Garel Hauver, a longtime coach and manager in the Brunswick Little League system. He was also the sportswriter for the Brunswick Citizen from 1977 through 2013, when health issues forced his retirement.
Last year’s Hauver Tournament, along with the regularly scheduled season, was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Phillies and Reds won their way through the early rounds of the tournament to reach last Saturday’s championship game, which turned out to be a classic Phillies-Reds matchup.
The Reds took the initial lead, 2-0, in the top of the first inning. Mason Barry tripled in a run while Shayne LeFever had an RBI groundout to the pitcher.
The Phillies answered in the last of the first with a single run on an RBI double from Austin Loveless. The Reds made it a 3-1 game in the fourth, scoring a run on a bases-loaded walk, then added a run in the fifth when Barry doubled to left-center field.
The Phillies stayed in contention with a single run in the fifth when Luke Barnhouse was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded. In the bottom of the sixth, the Phillies won when Nicholas Martinis doubled in a pair of runs to tie the score at 4. The go-ahead run scored on an error.
Jack Wilt had four hits to lead the Phillies. Martinis had three hits with a double and two RBIs.
Barry and Braden Ahalt each had two hits to lead the Reds.
