YEATESVILLE —East Carteret made a lasting impression in its Northside Easter tournament debut as the Mariners sailed past Plymouth 9-0 in the in the championship game on Monday.
East Carteret finished the tourney with perfect 3-0 record and got wins from three different pitchers, with Jaden Fultcher recording the victory in the title game as he threw six scoreless innings.
The Mariners were able to get big hits at key times in the game and posted one run in the first, two in the third, four in the fourth and two in the sixth.
Tyler Mason led the offensive as he was 3-4 with five RBIs, while Thomas Bullock went 2-2 with two RBIs.
“Ty Mason had a couple of big hits but it was a team effort, everybody hit the ball,” East Carteret coach Jason Salter said.
The Vikings had opportunities but could not cash in on them as coach Terry Perry’s club saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.
“Early on we had bases loaded with one out and we didn’t come up with the big hit,” Perry said. “In other situation they just made a good play on us and we just couldn’t put pressure on them. We didn’t get the big hit when we needed it and they did.”
Earlier in the day the hosting Northside Panthers overcame an early morning 7-2 loss to East Carteret to finish in third place in the tourney by topping South Creek 4-2.
Northside’s Dillon Cutler pitched all seven inning and looked sharp as he held the Cougars to two runs en route to clinching the bronze medal.
In Northside’s first game of the day, Brandon Marsh pitched a complete game and struck out three in a losing effort against East Carteret. Cutler went 2-3 with two doubles against the Mariners, while Tyler Waters added two hits and Ryan Arthur went 1-3.
The loss knocked Northside out of the title game and put them in a battle for the bronze with South Creek.
“We had eight teams here and finished third, that’s at least in the upper half,” Northside coach Keith Boyd said. “We came out in the first game against East Carteret with a lot of energy and we just hit a rough spot in the sixth inning and gave up five runs. We just could never get our momentum again.”
Against South Creek, the Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Cutler belted an RBI single over the head of the Cougars shortstop to score Arthur.
The Cougars would respond in the top of the third when Brandon Battle ripped a run-scoring base hit to knot the score at 1-1.
In the top of the fourth South Creek took the lead as Zach Pelt belted an RBI double to go up 2-1.
The score would stay that way until the bottom of the fifth when Culter hit sac fly to tie the game at 2-2.
In the bottom of the sixth the Panthers would take the lead for good. Tyler Waters led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Neal Gibbs attempted to sacrifice bunt Waters to third but was able to beat out the throw to first. That set the stage for Caleb Coltrain, who stepped into the batter’s box and delivered a seeing-eye grounder up the middle to score both Gibbs and Waters and hand the Panthers a 4-2 lead.
“Whenever you get kids in scoring position you have to have people come through for you,” Boyd said. “And (Coltrain) has done it for us two or three time already this year.”