Published: July 03, 2008 09:38 am         

Mineral Wells all-stars set for district tourney

By Craig Holamon
sports@mineralwellsindex.com

FORT WORTH — It’s hard to keep a good team down.

After a loss on Friday to the Fort Worth Westside Little League All-Star team, the Mineral Wells Rams 9-10-year-old all-stars bounced back on Monday with a 9-8 win over the Fossil Creek All-Stars.

The win moved Mineral Wells into Tuesday’s district tourney title game.

The following is a game-by-game look at the results:

Fort Worth Westside 9

Mineral Wells 8

The team of all-stars from the Mineral Wells Association started the game slowly and fell behind 6-0 after an inning and a half.

In the bottom of the second the Rams exploded for four runs, and moved the count to 6-4.

A two-run single by Mineral Wells’ Trent Underwood and a two-run double by Chris Ortiz keyed the Mineral Wells uprising.

The team of Minor League all-stars from Mineral Wells added four more runs in the third inning and tied the score at 8-8.

A clutch run-producing base hit by Underwood, a single by Mineral Well’s McCain Mason and a triple by Braxton Allen helped Mineral Wells score the four run.

Fossil Creek tied the game in the fourth inning and held on for the win.

Mineral Wells pitcher Ty Tarver ripped a two-out single before Ortiz knocked him in with a triple. Mason started on the mound for the Rams and pitched well.

Mason battled the Fossil Creek all-star team for two and two-thirds innings, allowing only three earned runs.

Mineral Wells 9

Fossil Creek 8

Landen Paine took the mound and quieted the Fossil Creek bats during a two and two-thirds innings stint on the mound. Paine allowed only one run.

Ortiz relieved Paine on the mound in the sixth inning, with Mineral Wells leading 9-8 and a runner on with only one out and closed out the rally.

Mineral Well’s Branson Sanchez and Zach Elder led the Rams in the field. Branson made a nice stop and throw from third base to end a Fossil Creek rally in the fourth inning and Elder made two good stops at first base to thwart the Fossil Creek offense.

Cam Weiss and Gaige McDougal each also scored runs during the Mineral Wells victory.

Mineral Wells is now 2-1 in District Tournament play and has a 7-1 post-season record.

Notes ... The Mineral Wells all-stars are set to take the field again on Tuesday for a tournament title game against the Weatherford All-Stars.

The contest is slated at the Westside Fort Worth Little League Park.

The Mineral Wells-Weatherford game will be a rematch of the Jim Sundberg Tournament Championship game.

Mineral Wells defeated Weatherford 16-12 in the finals of the annual Sundberg Tournament.

Each of the all-star teams are set to enter the District 7 Tournament title game with one tournament loss. The winner of the Mineral Wells-Weatherford rematch will advance to the regional tournament.

The losing team will be eliminated from tournament play.

(Scott Elder contributed to this story.)