LINDEN – The thundering bats of the Linden 11&12-year old All-Stars lit up the dark gray skies that swept through Marengo County Thursday night, as they collected 10 runs through four innings to ten-run rule the Demopolis All-Stars 10-0, while earning the 11&12-year old Sub-District Tournament Championship.

Weldon Fultz, Trevor Johnson, Wood Collins and Reed Barkley got the night started off right for Linden as each picked up a hit in the first inning to take a 2-0. Linden then tacked on a third run in the second inning with hits by Chris Sammons and Michael Martin, but it was in the third inning where Linden made their mark.

With singles by Collins, Johnson and Matthew Martin, Linden added four more runs to their already impressive lead to make it a 7-0 game. Demopolis had the will, but were short on the way and couldn’t muster a run in the third or fourth innings and with lightning sparks in the distance they headed into the fourth still trailing 7-0.

But by the bottom of the fourth the only sparks that mattered were the ones coming off the end of the Linden bats. With hits by Martin, Alan Flowers and Mat Ethridge, Linden was able to quickly load the bases with no outs. Demopolis would then walk in two runs and commit a fielding error to give Linden the last three runs they would need to end the ballgame.

Both Demopolis and Linden will now move to the Area Tournament in Grove Hill, which begins today at 6 p.m. Teams competing include: Linden, Demopolis, Thomasville, Grove Hill and Wilcox.