Entering the final day of the District 13 baseball tournament, Dyer County faced an uphill battle. After falling to the loser's bracket with a 12-6 loss to Dyersburg on Monday, the Choctaws would have to defeat the Trojans in back-to-back games in order to claim the tournament title -- which is exactly what the squad did.

Behind solid performances on the mound from tournament MVP Derek Sims and teammate Jordan Patterson, the Choctaws pulled off the stunning victories, winning the first game, 12-1, in five innings before capturing the title with a 10-4 win in the championship game.

"Tonight was very emotional for both teams," said an elated Choctaw head coach Preston Ozment afterwards. "No matter what the records are, when Dyersburg and Dyer County play you can throw everything out the window because anything can happen."

In the first game on championship day, the Choctaws wasted little time building momentum. In the top half of the first inning with Dyersburg's Matt Chandler on the mound, the squad jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage thanks to solo blasts from Patterson and teammate Dylan Haycraft to get the Choctaws off to a rousing start, something the Trojans were able to do on Monday.

"We talk about momentum a lot and our guys hadn't forgotten the way Dyersburg scored four on us on Monday, and I think it was just the opposite today. We came out and hit the ball hard early, and got some balls out of the park. When you can do that early, it really fires your team up and we needed a strong start like the one we had today," said Ozment.

The early start may have been what Ozment was looking for, but in the top of the second a 3-run blast to deep left off the bat of Morgan Bowser put Dyer County in the driver's seat, leading 5-0, and chasing Chandler in favor of fellow senior Scotty Rogers.

Rogers worked out of the inning unscathed. In the bottom half of the inning, Chandler singled and advanced to second before scoring on an RBI-single from Bryson Horner, cutting the Choctaw lead to 5-1 at the end of two innings.

The Choctaws added three additional runs in the fourth, and four more in the fifth as Sims continued his mastery over the Trojans, earning the win in Game 1 and putting Dyer County in position to pull of the unthinkable for the second straight year with the five-inning, 12-1 victory.

(Advertisement)

While the Choctaws pounded out 14 hits in the opening game, the Trojans managed a mere three thanks to the right arm of Sims. Ozment felt if his squad could get past the first game it was a new day.

"We told our kids going into the first game that the pressure was on Dyersburg, not us. We thought it would be in the back of their minds what happened last year, and our guys knew if we could win the first one that anything could happen in the second game.

With the victory, the stage was set for one game with a district title on the line.

After throwing five complete innings in the first game, Ozment sent Sims back out to start the second. The right-hander continued where he left off, facing the minimum in the first after Dyersburg's Tyler Childress hit into an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom half of the frame, Dyersburg's Ryan Wood, making his first start of the season, gave up an RBI-single to Shea Thomas with Chad Gammons aboard. Moments later Biscuit Bevis drilled a 2-RBI single to center for a 3-0 advantage, a lead the Choctaws held until the third inning.

In the third, Jesse McNeil led off the inning with a shot to deep center for a stand up double. Dyersburg's Michael Brown then stepped to the dish, hitting a grounder back to Sims. Attempting to get McNeil diving back to second, the throw sailed into center field, giving the Trojans life with runners at first and second.

With one out, Chandler connected on a 0-1 pitch from Sims for a 3-run shot over the wall in left center to knot the contest at 3-3. After a walk to Adam Smith, Ozment removed Sims in favor of fellow right-hander Jordan Patterson. One pitch later Dyer County was out of the inning after Horner hit into a fielder's choice.

One inning later, Dyer County benefitted from a throwing error to push two runs across the plate for a 5-3 lead, one the squad wouldn't relinquish. In the fifth, the Choctaws scored the games final five runs, ultimately winning the district tournament title, 10-4.

"I'm really proud of the way our guys stepped up to the challenge and played. I have a lot of respect for Dyersburg's players and the season they have had. The season isn't over because we both have a chance to keep on playing. Winning the tournament is great, but it just means we are guaranteed one more game," said Ozment.

Sims was named tournament MVP, while Dyersburg's Childress was selected as regular season MVP.

Named to the all-tournament team from Dyer County were Shea Thomas, Chad Gammons, and B.A. Davis. For Dyersburg, Les Smith, Michael Brown, and Childress were named all-tourney selections as well.