LITTLE LEAGUE LEGENDS?

Good hitting combined with a little patience, and the Destin 9-10s came home with another victory.

On nine hits and 11 walks, the Destin All-Stars sent Shalimar packing with a 17-5 victory in the District 1 9-10 baseball tournament in Freeport Wednesday evening.

Christian Manthey led the Destin sticks with two doubles and a single for four RBIs. Brandon Edelman had two hits, while Grant Hooten, Tyler Cohen, Matson Goodman and Chris Wise each connected for one.

Destin went to bat first and picked up three runs. Hooten got things started with a line-drive triple down the third baseline. Cohen reached on an error and Hooten scored. Manthey followed with a double up the middle to score Cohen. The next two batters grounded out, but Manthey scored.

Shalimar answered the call in the bottom half, taking advantage of walks for a 3-3 game.

In the second inning, Shalimar took its only lead of the game on a couple of hits. Jared Dunn and Quint Gornto each singled.

In the top of the third, Destin got the advantage back. Hooten walked and Cohen ripped a single. Manthey followed with a double to left field for an RBI. Cohen tried to make it home but was thrown out at the plate. Manthey later scored to give Destin a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom half, Destin shut Shalimar down quickly. Edelman fielded a couple of grounders at third for outs, and Cohen struck out the other batter for a three-up, three-down inning.

Destin got one hit in the top of the fourth off the bat of Edelman but didn’t score.

Shalimar, however, evened the score in the bottom half. With a runner on base, Hooten made a catch at first for an out, then Cohen and Hooten combined for another out at first. Gornto singled to bring in the runner before Cohen and Hooten combined for another putout at first.

In the top of the fifth, Shalimar got into pitching trouble and Destin took advantage to score eight runs on seven walks and two hits. Wise put down a bunt single for an RBI and Goodman belted a double for two RBIs. Destin led 13-5.

In the bottom half, Destin didn’t give up much. Goodman struck out the first batter, then the next reached on an error. Brock Ochsenreiter came in to pitch and forced a grounder to Hooten at shortstop for an out and struck out the next to finish off the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Destin collected four more runs all on two outs. Edelman singled, then Austin Atwell and Ryan Wagner each walked.

Hooten was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Cohen walked to bring in another run, then Manthey nailed a single to right field for two RBIs and a Destin 17-5 lead.

At Shalimar’s last at bat, Ochsenreiter struck out one, then Jeremy Pfeiffer came in and sat the next two batters down for another three-up, three-down inning.

For the game, Destin used five different pitchers. Hooten started on the mound and faced five batters for three walks and one strike out. Cohen stepped onto the mound next, facing 12 batters, walking three, striking out two and giving up two hits. Goodman faced six batters, struck out one and gave up one hit. Ochsenreiter faced four batters for no hits and two strikeouts. Pfeiffer finished up with two batters and two strikeouts.