BATTLIN’ BOYS

By TJ MAXWELL

Cove Leader-Press

 

Only one team remains standing of the 11 teams representing the City of Copperas Cove in their respective Texas Teen-Age Baseball district competitions.

 

The Copperas Cove Royals dropped a tough contest to the Harker Heights Scrappers to begin the tournament but battled their way back to the championship game held last night at the Harker Heights Community Park sports complex where they again fell to the Scrappers.

 

The Royals had to do a little in fighting when they were paired against fellow Covites, the Copperas Cove Mariners in their first loser’s bracket contest and the Copperas Cove Orioles in the following round. The Orioles and Mariners were both knocked out of the championship bracket by the Harker Heights Raptors but the Royals avenged their city league competitors by knocking off the Raptors in the quarterfinal round to earn a rematch with the Scrappers.

 

A second loss to the Scrappers ended the Royals’ run at a state berth.

 

The Cove White Sox suffered a first round loss to the Scrappers before being knocked out of the tournament by the Cove Orioles.

 

Meanwhile, just across the complex, the 14U Copperas Cove Braves took a very similar path to the semis. They defeated the Harker Heights Rays in the opening round and the Heights Red Sox in round two before suffering their only loss of the contest against the Lampasas Yellowjackets.

 

The Braves earned a shot at redemption by downing Gatesville Big Boy Construction in the quarterfinals but must now earn two wins over the Yellowjackets to secure a spot in the state tournament. The Braves will need to beat Lampasas at the 6 p.m. contest and turn around and do it again at 8:30 p.m. should they get a win.

 

The Copperas Cove Cardinals were the lone hometown team standing Wednesday night at Copperas Cove City Park in the 10U District Tournament.

 

The Cardinals began the tournament by winning their first two contests over hometown rivals the Cove Dodgers and Gatesville Fire Department but the Burnet Pirates cut their run in the championship bracket short.

 

The Cardinals were quite done yet, however, they pulled off a lopsided win over Gatesville TTG Utilities on Wednesday night before having the season ended by semifinalists Jonesboro in the quarterfinals.

 

The Cove Giants and Cove Athletics also suffered first round losses against Jonesboro and the Bertram Rangers, respectively.

 

The Giants and Dodgers notched a tick mark in the win column in their first contest in the loser’s bracket. The Giants defeated Gatesville Quality while the Dodgers took out their hometown teams the Athletics.

 

The Dodgers run ended against Gatesville TTG and the Giants fell to the Gatesville Fire Department.

 

In Lampasas, the Cove Astros and Cove Rangers runs ended a bit early.

 

The Rangers earned an opening round win over the Gatesville Sonic but were knocked down to the loser’s bracket in the battle of the Rangers against Temple and out of the tournament by the Rangers of Bertram.

 

The Astros lost to the Gatesville Lions in the opening round and fell to the Bertram Rangers in their next contest.