The Bainbridge Leisure Services Department 14-and-under All-Star baseball team finished second in the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association (GRPA) District 3 Tournament here this week.

They will now advance to the State GRPA Tournament that gets under way Tuesday, July 10, at Bill Reynolds Sports Park.

In their tournament opening game that began on Tuesday and concluded on Wednesday because of a power outage, Bainbridge lost to eventual champion Grady County, 6-4.

The score was tied 4-4 at the end of the regulation seven innings and went to a tie breaker. Each team was allowed to put a runner on second base to begin their tie breaker inning. Grady County scored two in their half-inning and Bainbridge scored none in theirs.

Bainbridge bounced back later Wednesday to down Crisp County, 8-7. On Thursday, Bainbridge defeated Tift County, 13-1, to earn another shot at Grady County in the double-elimination tournament. Grady County downed Bainbridge in that game, 5-2, but Bainbridge still qualified for state by finishing second in the tournament.

Bainbridge grabbed a 1-0 lead in Tuesday’s opening game against Grady County. Nolan Haire singled to open the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice and came in on a two-out single by Tyler Varnum. Bainbridge added single runs in the second and fourth innings.

The second-inning run was scored by Cayden McQuaig, who walked. In the fourth, Nix singled and scored.

In their win over Crisp County, Bainbridge three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull out the victory. The big blow was a two-run single by Nolan Haire.

They also scored three runs in the third inning. Haire opened the inning with a double. With one away, A.J. Jackson reached on an error and Varnum singled Bryant home. After Noah Bryant walked to load the bases, Lawson Lane singled, driving in Jackson and Varnum.

In their 13-1 win over Tift County that enabled them to stay alive in tournament play, Bainbridge scored eight runs in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth.

Key blows in the third were a leadoff double by Haire, and a two-run single by Bryant.

Two errors were instrumental in fourth inning. Carson Inlow singled in a run in the fifth.