Pitcher Brayden Herring sends one toward the plate during the SWAC tourney at Royal Lane earlier this week. (Photo courtesy Sampson Parks and Recreation)

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Sampson's U12 team gathers for prayer before a game earlier in the week. (Photo courtesy of Laura Butler Harris)

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The Sampson U10 All Stars are, back row: assistant coach Donnie Johnson, head coach Chris Cashwell, and assistant coach Ricky Lee; second row: Devin Nunnery, Brayden Herring, Colton Danks, Jordan Pearsall, Logan Henderson, Payne Honeycutt; and bottom row: Lane Baggett, Jacob Poole, Jamie Sessoms, Jacob Lee, Ollie Knowles, and Mason Cashwell. (Photo courtesy Sampson Parks and Rec)

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The U12 team members are, top row: assistant coach Vincent Povozay, head coach Keith Butler and assistant coach Derek McLamb; second row: Joshua Carter, Dylan Fann, Landon Williams, Zach Tanner, Dawson McLamb, and Aaron Butler; and bottom row: Chandler Ray, Russ Ratley, Reid Grady, Austin Peterson, Dylan Ivey, and Mathew Nunnery. (Photo courtesy Laura Butler Harris)

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Sampson County’s All Star baseball teams participated in the SWAC (State Wide Athletic Committee) Eastern Region Sectional’s July 19-July 23. The U12 Sampson County All Stars had their sectional at Royal Lane Park in Clinton while the U10 Sampson County All Stars traveled to Mendoza Park in Spring Lake.

The Sampson County U10 All Stars played their first game Thursday, July 19 at 6 p.m. against the Fuquay-Varina Bengals, which did not end in Sampson County’s favor. The second game, fighting their way through the consolation bracket, the All Stars played Spring Lake’s All Star team.. Not only did they have to fight their way through the consolation bracket, the All Stars also had to fight against Mother Nature. The Sampson/Spring Lake game was the first of many delays. Not being able to finish their game due to rain and lightening, they had to travel back on Saturday, July 21 at to finish the game, ultimately winning 16-3. The following day, the Sampson County All Stars faced the Fuquay-Varina Tigers. Once again, the weather did not cooperate and after multiple lightening delays, the game was postponed until Monday, July 23. Unfortunately, the Sampson County All Stars ended their long journey in the sectionals with that game, losing 9-8.

The U10 All Stars have been invited to play in a tournament in Broadway, July 27-29, where they will play a complete round robin tournament. The two teams with the best record at the end of the tournament will play for the championship. Sampson County Parks and Recreation wants to say “good luck” to our U10 All Stars in this tournament and we are proud to see you all keep going!

U12

The Sampson County U12 baseball team had their first game Thursday, July 19 against SJBA South winning 12-0. The second game was Friday, July 20 against Onslow County. However, with severe thunderstorms rolling in and not leaving, the game was postponed to Saturday. Sampson did not pull out the win against Onslow, putting them in the consolation bracket. On Sunday, the Sampson All Stars fought to stay in the tournament facing the Clinton All Stars, and winning, putting the All Stars playing back to back against Onslow County once again. After a pitcher’s duel and a series of home runs from both teams, Sampson County came out on top.

The All Stars would have to face Angier, who had remained undefeated in the duration of the whole Sectional tournament. The All Stars would have to beat Angier twice to take home the sectional title. Monday, Sampson County faced Angier and beat them. The second game against Angier was to begin at 8 p.m., but once again Mother Nature would have its way and the game was postponed to Tuesday, July 24. Another storm rolled through, but both teams were determined to wait it out. Angier ended the game with an 8-6 win against the Sampson County All Stars.

Since the top two teams of the sectionals advance to the State Tournament, the Sampson County All Stars started their journey towards the State Championship Thursday, July 26 in Spring Lake. Scores will not available at press time.