Chris Whitaker
AMERICUS — Allen Gleeson was 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored as Sumter Area swept the Little League sub-district series with Albany National with an 8-1 win Tuesday night.
Sumter will face the Columbus district winner in a best-of-3 series starting July 13 in Americus.
“It was not pretty to watch,” said coach Marty McDonald. “We didn’t really come out and play with the fire and enthusiasm I thought we should have. To their pitcher’s credit, he did a good job of keeping us off-balance. We should have hit the ball much better. I thought there was no excuse for us not scoring more runs than we did.”
Sumter had 11 hits in the game with Mike Russell collecting two hits and Hunter Weldon, Reed Dillard and Aaron Morris joining Gleeson with doubles.
“Allen hit the ball really well; he has been in a little bit of a slump, and it’s good to see him hit the ball hard tonight,” said McDonald. “Mike Russell had another good day at the plate, and it’s good those two came in and hit the ball well.”
Hunter Weldon struck out 11, including the side in the first and fourth innings while allowing two hits in the game. Brandon Looney got three straight outs in the sixth to end the series.
“He had spurts where he’d get in a groove and pitch well, but he got behind on way too many batters,” said McDonald. “He’s really going to have to work on getting first-pitch strikes and getting ahead of batters to keep them off-balance. If our pitchers pitch behind in the count, we won’t be able to beat good teams.”
Sumter took a 3-0 lead after the second inning behind RBI from Cason Fort and Alex Mast and a passed ball.
It tacked on another in the third on Gleeson’s second double of the game, this time over the center fielder’s head. Sumter scored three more in the fourth, including two on a double from Weldon that was misplayed in right field.
Gleeson scored the last run in the fifth as a double play was made by Albany.
Sumter will play in the state GRPA tournament next week starting Wednesday. It’s a four-day, eight-team tournament in Moultrie. Its first game is 7 p.m. Wednesday against the District 6 winner.
“We’ve got to get back on a roll and get focused,” said McDonald. “I hope we make a good showing for Sumter County. We want the kids to play hard and have fun. If we get a few breaks, we might compete for the championship.”
