Clinton’s Braylen Gomez slides safely into third base on Monday evening against East Duplin.

Clinton’s Braylen Gomez slides safely into third base on Monday evening against East Duplin.

<p>East Duplin pitcher Grayson Padrick stares down home plate as he prepares to unleash a pitch.</p>

East Duplin pitcher Grayson Padrick stares down home plate as he prepares to unleash a pitch.

<p>Sampson’s Sawyer Warren makes a play at third base.</p>

Sampson’s Sawyer Warren makes a play at third base.

<p>Sampson’s Trey Tanner scoops up a groundball and looks toward first base.</p>

Sampson’s Trey Tanner scoops up a groundball and looks toward first base.

<p>Clinton’s Hampton Bass fires a strike toward home plate.</p>

Clinton’s Hampton Bass fires a strike toward home plate.

Monday evening wasn’t kind to the two All-Star teams from Sampson County. Both the Clinton All-Stars and the Sampson All-Stars faced defeat, with Sampson being eliminated from further play in the 2021 Dixie Youth AAA (Minor League) District 7 All-Star tournament. With the loss, Clinton dropped into the losers bracket and were now faced with a win or go home situation.

Clinton All-Stars vs East Duplin

East Duplin and Clinton were the last of the undefeated teams, Clinton at 2-0 and ED at 1-0 after receiving a bye. Clinton’s wins were a 21-4 victory over Wallace and 2-1 in extra innings over North Duplin. East Duplin, meanwhile, entered Monday nights competition with a win over Burgaw, 7-2.

With high expectation of a great game between the two teams, a big crowd lined both baselines in anticipation. What unfolded, however, was a big East Duplin victory, 12-1.

Clinton got off to a hot start, going three up, three down defensively in the top of the first. Then on offense in the bottom half of the inning, the bats of the hometown team looked sharp. Brayden Gomez got aboard on a solid hit and two batters later Henry Pope was aboard on a walk. A passed ball moves both runners over to second and third and Hampton Bass hit an RBI single to score Gomez for a 1-0 lead. The surge ended shortly thereafter with Clinton holding the 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately for the home team, that was as positive as things would get as East Duplin caught fire.

Brayden Jones led the top of the second off with a big hit into the outfield, which yielded Jones circling the bases with ease as he tied the game up 1-1. Grayson Padrick got aboard next thanks to an error and two batters later J.C. Williams hit an RBI shot to score Padrick, putting the visitors ahead 2-1 at the conclusion of their half of the inning.

Clinton just couldn’t get much going throughout the remainder of the game outside a smattering of base runners.

For East Duplin, though, they continued getting offensive success, mixing up base on balls and timely hits to produce runs.

Graham Greene and Samuel Mojica drew walks in the top of the third and two batters later Levi Powell hit East Duplin’s second four-bagger of the game to extend the lead to 5-1. Later in the same inning, Archer Gwynn hit an RBI that scored Padrick and was then scored on a hit by Williams to make it 7-1.

In the top of the fourth, East Duplin continued to pull away. Back to back hits from Mojica and Hayes Lanier added two more runs as the lead now stood at 9-1.

Finally, the visiting team added three more runs in the top of the sixth on a triple by Padrick that made the sore the final margin of 12-1.

With the win, East Duplin is 2-0 in the tournament and is in control of the winners bracket as the lone remaining undefeated team. They were set to play Burgaw, who is 1-1 in the tournament, on Tuesday with a chance to eliminate them and send them to the Championship series. For Clinton, they were set to rematch North Duplin in hopes of staying alive.

Sampson All-Stars vs Burgaw

In Monday evenings elimination games, the 1-1 Sampson All-Stars were pit against 0-1 Burgaw. This game saw Sampson come storming back in the bottom of the final inning, but just one too many miscues on defense cost them, as they fell short in their efforts, losing 11-9.

The game remained scoreless through two innings but Burgaw began to find some rhythm in the top of the third. They strung together three runs on three hits and jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Following one hit and one walk, they extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth.

Sampson, however, came roaring back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Though they stranded the go-ahead run at second base, they were able to get all the way back within 4-3.

Jackson Lassiter, Juan Melchor, and Lincoln Neal got thing started off with two walks and an error to load the bases. Sawyer Warren got a nice hit into right field, which scored Lassiter and Melchor to make it 4-2. Then, Javier Escalera got aboard on an error, which scored Neal to make it 4-3.

Burgaw, though, countered in the top of the fifth on a combination of hits and Sampson miscues, generating four more runs to double their score to 8-3.

Nothing was going for Sampson in the bottom half and the game shifted to the sixth and final inning.

There, Burgaw stretched their lead to 11-3, setting the stage for the final surge from Sampson.

Warren got things started with a single up the right side. He then moved over to second followed by a passed ball moving him to third. Trey Tanner followed suit with a hit to score Warren, making it 11-4, followed by a hit from Trace Pope and a walk from Zymier Small to score Tanner to make it 11-5.

Back to back strikeouts, though, really put a damper on things but Sampson regrouped and went right back work to reach the top of their line up. Melchor and Neal each hit back-to-back 2-run RBIs to quickly bring the total to 11-9. Unfortunately for Sampson, that’s as close as things could get as the tying-runner was ruled out in an extremely close play at second to end the game, the final being 11-9.

With that, Sampson has been eliminated from the tournament and finished 1-2 in their trip there.

Reach Sports Editor Daron Barefoot at [email protected].