NEW ORLEANS – Looking down and out once again, the Bryant Black Sox pitched 12 consecutive scoreless innings in two games Sunday, taking a 5-2 win over the Louisiana champs in the first championship-round game, and then blanking the Oklahoma champs 3-0 in the winner-take-all Mid-South Regional final in New Orleans and advance to their first American Legion World Series since 2007 and second one ever.
The Black Sox had lost to Oklahoma 5-4 in extra innings on Friday and then won three straight to take the title and a trip to Shelby, North Carolina, for the world series which starts Thursday at 4:30 p.m. vs. Idaho Lewiston Post 13. Bryant did the same thing in the state tournament in Conway, falling to the Texarkana Razorbacks, last season’s world series winner, 6-1 last Friday, before winning three straight to take the state title.
“It was the same deal from the state tournament,” Black Sox Coach Darren Hurt said. “We knew we had the arms, we knew we could make a run at it and we knew we could win three games. We’ve done it before so that was kind of our mindset. It’s going to be a little tougher now (in the regional), but we’re going to win them one at a time and get to Shelby. They pulled it off.”