Apr 17, 2008

The Ava JV hosted a junior varsity baseball tournament here Saturday on a cold and blustery day. Hollister, West Plains and Mtn. Grove joined Ava in the tournament. Ava started by facing Mtn. Grove for the second time this season. Trae Shelton took the mound for Ava and pitched a solid game, holding the Panthers to four runs. Shelton had good help from the Ava defense which committed only one error in the game. Coach Jason Puryear said his Bears hit-and-ran the ball well against good Panther pitching. Ava had nine runs on nine hits, and won the game 9-4. Next, Ava played West Plains for the championship. The Bears went 0-for-9 at the plate and gave up 12 runs to a solid West Plains team. Coach Puryear was concerned about this performance considering the Bears beat the Zizzers earlier this year. The Bears played Houston on Monday to see if they could bounce back from the loss. Brandon Stanifer took the mound for Ava and gave up two runs in the first inning. He finished strong, however, shutting the Tigers out the rest of the game and recording 12 strikeouts. The Bears played well enough to win, with good defense, timely hitting and good base running, pulling out a 4-2 victory. Next the Bears will travel to Salem today (Thursday).