Sports
Little League 11-12 All Stars: Dixon Outslugged by Davis American, Eliminated in 11-7 Defeat
Matt Butler falls a double short of hitting for the cycle.
It wasn’t the result the Dixon All Stars were looking for, but disappointment wasn’t overly apparent in the Dixon dugout after Saturday’s 11-7 tournament elimination loss to Davis American.
Instead of downtrodden looks and gloomy faces, the mood was quite elevated in the Dixon dugout after the final out was recorded, despite this being the last game for some of the 12-year-old players on the team.
“The kids stayed positive in the game,” Dixon manager Andy Butler said. “…I hope they relish the fact that they were on the all-star team, and they were the best of the best of 11-12 year olds in Dixon this year. I’m watching them all walk out of the dugout with smiles, so that tells me that they had a good time and they enjoyed their experience.”
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As for the game, Matt Butler hit his second leadoff home run in as many games, and finished a double short of hitting for the cycle.
“Matt had one heck of a game,” the elder Butler said.
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Dixon grabbed an early 2-0 lead after two innings but was on the bad end of another big inning by their foe.
Davis rallied for seven runs in the top of the third inning, scoring four coming with two outs and two more from a throwing error. Catcher Sam Stiltner’s throw to first baseman Adam Nutting went wide and allowed Davis’ Christian Lien and Jack Haal to score to put the visiting team in front 7-2.
Dixon closed it to a two-run deficit in the home half of the inning. Jay Opperman drove in Stiltner with a single and Nick Bello drove in Opperman with a single of his own to cut it to a three-run deficit. Bello would later to make it a 7-5 game after three, but that’s as close as Dixon would get.
Davis would tack on three more runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth to seal Dixon’s fate.
“Honestly that was a team that I really felt we should have beat,” Butler said. “Our pitching held up in the first couple innings and then they just got their timing down and they were able to hit us. It wasn’t hard hit balls. They were just falling for them today. They had some balls fall for them and we had some balls that just didn’t fall for us…It was a little too much for us to overcome today.”
In the end, Butler was happy to see that his squad ultimately enjoyed just playing baseball.
“They’re young men and at the same time their boys,” he said. “I hope that they really had a good time with the tournament because that’s what Dixon Little League is about; having some fun and developing the kids and making sure they get a good experience.”
