The Warren County South 11- and 12-year-olds jumped out to a strong start and edged Paintsville 5-4 on Sunday in Kentucky State Little League Tournament action at Ephram White Park. Both teams entered the day having won their first game in pool play.

Paintsville got on the board first with a home run in the bottom of the first inning before South answered with a grand slam off the bat of Lance Upright that scored Charlie Key, Mac Ausbrooks and Adam Burns.

Upright’s father Dave, who’s also the team manager, said he had mixed emotions after witnessing his son’s grand slam.

“The coach is clapping his hands going, ‘Great job, make sure you touch every bag,’ and the dad’s jumping out of my skin,” Upright said. “I’m proud of him. To hit a grand slam in a state tournament, those kind of memories are few and far between.”

South added another run the next inning with Burns’ RBI double that brought in Tucker Prieskorn, extending the lead to 5-1.

Paintsville chipped away at South’s lead with runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings but stranded a runner in the final frame, which sealed the 5-4 victory for South. 

South is now 2-0 with one day of pool play remaining. It plays Morehead at 2 p.m. today.

“We didn’t quit,” Upright said. “They got some hits. They started hitting the ball hard, and our guys said they were going to keep making plays, and that’s exactly what they did.”

Paintsville 1 0 1 0 1 1 – 4 6 1

WCS 4 1 0 0 0 x – 5 10 1

WP: Miller LP: Moore

9- and 10-year-olds

Bowling Green East 12, North Oldham 11 (seven innings)

The Bowling Green East 9-10s used two RBIs from Carson Myers in extra innings to solidify a 12-11 win over North Oldham on Sunday in state tournament pool play.

East owned a 10-5 lead heading into the sixth inning, but North Oldham notched five runs in the top of the frame to send the game to extra innings.

North Oldham tallied a run in the top of the seventh to claim the lead, but East’s Myers, who also had a grand slam in the second inning, drove in two runs in the bottom of the frame.

BG East, which secured a spot in the semifinals with Sunday’s win, finishes pool play against Hazard/Perry at 4 p.m. today.

Warren County North 2, Knott County 1

Warren County North outlasted Knott County 2-1, bouncing back from a loss in Saturday’s opener.

A leadoff home run from Cameron Martin opened the scoring for North in the second inning. North added another run in the bottom of the fifth inning off an RBI from Colton Edwards that scored Trey Colson.

North plays Glasgow at 10 a.m. today.

Eastern American 12, Glasgow 1 (four innings)

Glasgow ran into a buzz saw in a 12-1 loss to Eastern American that ended early by run rule.

Taye Poynter’s first-inning homer was the only run for Glasgow, while Eastern American tallied runs in each of its innings.

Glasgow fell to 1-1 in pool play with one matchup left against Warren County North.