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After four straight wins in elimination games, the Inverness All-Stars baseball squad finally stumbled at the Dixie Pre-Majors 15-16 World Series in Guntersville, Ala., falling one win shy of playing for the championship. The team lost 10-6 Thursday to Tennessee.
"This was something to build on," coach Jon Bolin said.
Inverness had rallied after losing its first game at the 12-team, double-elimination tournament.
"We played as well as we could for four games, and we played solid defense each time," Bolin said. "But today, the defense went a little south."
Inverness had no errors through three games, one through four and two through five. But against Tennessee, it had seven. Tennessee led 3-0 after two innings and Bolin thinks that contributed to the miscues, not nerves.
"They didn't panic," he said. "I think they just started pressing. They were forcing things, trying to make things happen. We had a chance to get back in the game, but our baserunning went south as well."
Inverness certainly didn't quit.
The squad closed the gap with two runs in the third and tied it with one in the top of the fifth. But in the bottom half of the inning, Tennessee scored twice. It then added five more in the sixth to go up 10-3.
Inverness rallied in the seventh with a three-run homer by Chase Smith.
"We had some chances," Bolin said. "We had the bases loaded in the first inning with two outs and couldn't get a key hit. It was tough to get things going."
The squad will not head home empty-handed, Bolin said. The coaching staff learned something about the kids, and the players learned something about themselves.
"We learned that we've got guys that'll go to war," Bolin said.