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The bashers from the Beaufort East all-stars deposited six more shots there Tuesday -- two apiece by Mattison Pike and Jason Senn -- to power them to a 10-0 victory against Hilton Head in the championship game of the Dixie Youth O-Zone Majors District 8 tournament.
"All of our guys can hit," Senn said, "so that's a good factor for us."
Yeah, no kidding. In four games during the tournament, Beaufort East pounded 17 home runs, many of them shots that sailed into the pine trees beyond the outfield fence.
Eight of the team's 12 players hit at least one home run, and five of them slammed at least two.
It was Pike who put on the best show at the plate. He had two multi-homer games and smacked five in the tourney to go with seven during the regular season.
"I just go up there relaxed and have a song stuck in my head and just think about how I'm going to hit," Pike said.
Whatever song it was, it worked.
Beaufort East teed off to the tune of seven runs in the second inning, as Shuler Black and Carson Gregory hit two-run home runs and Senn added the first of his two solo shots. Pike added his first home run of the night for an 8-0 lead in the third, and Pike and Senn each added solo shots in the fifth.
That was more than enough to support left-hander Josh Fickes, who was dominant throughout. Fickes gave up what proved to be the winning home run to Bailey Heath on Monday, as Hilton Head won to force Tuesday's game. But he allowed only two hits and three walks in a five-inning shutout Tuesday, striking out five in the process and sending Beaufort East to the state tournament later this month.
"I knew I had to throw a little better and get it done so they didn't beat us," Fickes said. "Because if we would have lost, we would have been done for the whole summer."
