Cooper, Heath power Hilton Head past Beaufort East in O-Zone Majors district game

Tommy Cooper watched with his Hilton Head teammates two nights earlier as Beaufort East pounded four home runs out of Crossings Park, sending Cooper and Co. to a mercy-rule defeat.

But that fireworks display didn't leave Cooper gun-shy. The right-hander quieted Beaufort East's booming bats, and Bailey Heath's three-run home run in the fourth lifted Hilton Head to an 8-4 victory Monday, forcing a rematch at 6 p.m. today for the district title in the Dixie Youth O-Zone Majors division.

Cooper went the distance, striking out 10 and allowing four runs on four hits -- not bad against a team that put up 28 runs in its first two games of the tournament.

"That kid pitched a great game," Beaufort East manager Jim Pike said. "That's all you can say. You have to tip your hat to him. He just beat us."

It looked like Beaufort East's potent offense would have another big night when Mattison Pike launched a two-run home run in the first, his third of the tournament.

"Having played them two days ago, we've seen that we can hit," Cooper said, noting the four home runs Beaufort East smacked in a 17-7 victory Saturday. "So I knew I was going to give up at least one or two. That was expected, so I just forgot about that and kept pitching."

Cooper allowed only three more hits after that -- two of them being back-to-back home runs by Carson Gregory and Josh Fickes to tie it at 4 in the fourth -- and Hilton Head's offense picked him up.

Heath delivered the biggest hit in the bottom of the fourth, turning on a two-strike fastball for a three-run home run to left, which gave Hilton Head the lead for good. Heath, who doesn't consider himself much of a power hitter, was actually fooled on the pitch, but he got enough of the bat on the ball to pull it out of the park.

"I was scared I was going to strike out," Heath said. "My mind just went blank. I thought it had a chance, but I didn't think it was going."

Cooper took it from there, retiring the last five batters he faced to set up a rubber match for the district title tonight.

"We've got great pitching, and they're obviously a great hitting team," Hilton Head manager Jason Heath said. "So we'll go out there and do our best, and we'll see what happens."

Dixie Youth AA (7-8)

Hampton-Varnville 14, Bluffton National 10: Jacob Cope, Tristin Shipes, Trenton Lee and Walker Soto all went 3-for-4, leading Hampton-Varnville to the Dixie Youth AA District 8 championship at Oscar J. Frazier Park.

Hampton moves on to the state tournament July 11-15 in Lexington. Bluffton National also qualifies for the state tournament as the District 8 runner-up.

In Monday's game, Clayton Chewning was 2-for-3, Joshua Reddy had a hit and two RBIs, Kamryn Gleason was 2-for-3 and Cooper George had two singles.