Varnado won all three games by a run while Pine went 2-1 and Franklinton went 1-1 in the 2017 Franklinton High School Tournament, which was held Thursday through Saturday at Franklinton and Pine.

Varnado 7, Jewel Sumner 6
Varnado won its first game, 7-6, over Jewel Sumner on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Armontee Kemp on Thursday at Pine.
The game was tied, 6-6, as the teams prepared to play the bottom of the seventh. Xavier Moses reached on a fielding error and was balked to second. A walk to Trace Lozier, followed by a strikeout and a walk to Ja’Kyle Newkirk loaded the bases for Kemp. Kemp delivered a sacrifice fly to right, sending Moses home with the winning run.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead through one inning. Travon Stokes singled to begin the bottom of the first and advanced to third on separate wild pitches before scoring on Errol Varnado’s RBI single to center.
The Cowboys tied the game in the second. Brady Johnson walked and stole second and third. He tallied two hitters later on Tristin King’s sacrifice bunt.
Sumner took a 3-1 lead in the third.
Michael Evans reached on a fielding error, Blake Murphy walked and Javunte Anderson moved the runners over with a bunt before Skylar Tabor plated both with a two-run single up the middle.
Varnado tied the game in the bottom of the frame. Varnado doubled with two outs. Jaylan Jefferson was next and he belted a pitch the opposite way deep to left for a two-run home run, making the score 3-3.
Moses restarted the rally with a single. Courtesy runner Jaccourious Bickham stole second. After Lozier reached on an error, Christian Matthews gave his team the lead with an RBI double to center. Varnado led 4-3 through three innings.
Sumner tied the game again in the fifth.
Anderson singled and advanced to second on a hit-and-run groundout to second by Tabor and scored on Johnson’s RBI double to left that tied the contest at 4-4.
The Wildcats countered with two runs of their own.
Varnado reached on an infield single for the Wildcats. He was later tagged out after a rundown. Jefferson and Moses walked. Lozier hit a grounder to third, but the third baseman dropped the ball when he attempted to tag courtesy runner Kevin Boudreaux, who was going to third on the grounder. That loaded the bases for Matthews, who hit a two-run double, sending courtesy runners Boudreaux and Bickham home and Varnado led 6-4.
It remained that way until the seventh. Murphy singled and Anderson walked. Tabor’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners over and both tallied on Jake Fontenot’s two-run double. It was 6-6 going into the bottom of the seventh where Varnado won on the walk-off sacrifice fly.
Varnado and Jefferson posted three hits each. Varnado doubled and scored. Jefferson homered, drove in three, scored twice and doubled.
Lozier and Moses had two hits apiece. Lozier doubled and drove in a run while Moses doubled and posted three runs.
Stokes, Matthews and Ja’Roderick Robinson all had a hit. Stokes scored a run and Matthews doubled and drove in two.
Kemp had an RBI for the Wildcats.
Varnado was the winning pitcher in relief. He allowed a hit, two walks and struckout a hitter over an inning of work.

Varnado 2, Independence 1
The next day, Varnado topped Independence, 2-1, at Franklinton.
The Wildcats tallied six hits — one each by Varnado, Jefferson, Moses, Robinson, Kemp and Boudreaux. Moses and Robinson scored the runs and Stokes had an RBI.
Winning pitcher Robinson got the win in relief after allowing a hit and striking out three over 2-2/3 innings.
Kemp got a no decision, but had a solid start. He allowed a run on four hits with 10 strikeouts and a walk over 4-1/3 innings.

Varnado 6, Amite 5
The Wildcats concluded the weekend of one-run wins by defeating Amite, 6-5, Saturday at Franklinton.
Jefferson had a big game, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored.
Varnado posted two hits and two runs.
Stokes, Lozier and Boudreaux and Jaylen Peters had one hit each. Stokes doubled, drove in two runs and scored once. Lozier doubled and drove in a pair of runs while Boudreaux doubled, had an RBI and a run scored and Peters scored a run.
Varnado was the winning pitcher in relief after allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with three strikeouts and four walks over three innings.
The win was Varnado’s fourth-straight one-run win. The Wildcats also defeated Kentwood, 3-2, on March 4.
Varnado is 8-1.

Pine tallied a 2-1 record over the three-day event. All of the Raiders’ games in the tournament took place at Pine.

Ponchatoula 16, Pine 0
The first game was a 16-0 loss to Ponchatoula in five innings at Pine.
Ponchatoula scored seven in the third and eight in the fifth after posting a run in the second.
Pine had just one hit, which was a double by Ethan Knight.
The Raiders committed seven errors that led to 11 unearned runs.

Pine 2, Jewel Sumner 0
Pine rebounded from the loss Friday and defeated Jewel Sumner, 2-0, behind Harrison Jones’ complete-game shutout.
Jones allowed just two hits over the seven innings with 10 strikeouts, no walks and three hit batters.
Kendall Sheridan recorded two of Pine’s five hits.
Knight, Jones and Rion Terrell had a hit each. Knight doubled and drove in a run while Jones had an RBI.
The runs were tallied by Tate Roach and Kaden Fersch.

Pine 13, Independence 0
Pine capped off the tournament by defeating Independence, 13-0, in five innings.
The Raiders had a balanced attack at the plate, as nine players had at least one hit and the Raiders tallied 10 runs for the game.
Luke Fonda led the group with two hits that included a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Trey Cooper, Logan Temples, D.J. Thomas, Sheridan, Jarwin Jordan, Jonathan Shelby, Jones and Terrell all had one hit.
Cooper, Shelby and Terrell all drove in a run, Thomas posted a run, Jordan tallied a pair of RBIs and a run scored, and Jones doubled, recorded an RBI and two runs scored.
Fersch scored a run and drove in one while Blaine Polk had two runs scored, Evan Sinopoli, Dakota Brooks and Knight all scored a run, Ian Turner and Gabe Guttuso had an RBI each and Dillon Morris posted a run and tallied an RBI.
Fonda pitched three shutout innings, allowing a hit with five strikeouts and a walk. Adams gave up one hit with three strikeouts and a walk in his two innings of work.
Pine scored in every inning. The Raiders put up six runs in the first inning before adding two in the second, three in the third and two more in the fourth.

Franklinton 14, Amite 0
Franklinton went 1-1 in its two official games in the tournament with the contests taking place at Franklinton.
The Demons opened play Thursday with a 14-0 victory over Amite in five innings.
Franklinton got off to a good start, posting three runs in the first inning before blowing the game open with an 11-run second.
Wyatt Verret missed hitting for the cycle by only a home run. He finished with three hits — a single, double and triple. Verret drove in four runs and scored three.
Collin Dominguez, Tyler McGhee and Jared Jenkins all posted a hit.
Dominguez scored two runs, McGhee had one and Jenkins tallied a run and drove one in.
Jamarian Crain recorded an RBI, while Davin Green posted two runs, J.P. Magee had one run scored and J.J. Jackson scored two runs and drove one home.
McGhee and Nate Bracey combined on a one-hit shutout.
McGhee, the winning pitcher, went three innings, allowing a hit with four strikeouts and no walks. Bracey pitched the fourth and fifth innings with three strikeouts and no walks.

Ponchatoula 3, Franklinton 1
Franklinton suffered a 3-1 loss to Ponchatoula in Friday’s game.
The Demons had four hits — one each by Trent Varnado, McGhee, Magee and Jackson. Magee scored a run on an RBI by Jamarian Crain.
Starter Verret went 6-1/3 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on 10 hits with a strikeout and two walks.
Dominguez pitched 2/3 innings of hitless relief with a strikeout.

Franklinton 0, Jewel Sumner 0
Franklinton and Jewel Sumner got started on Saturday, but the game was rained out in the third inning of a scoreless contest.
The game will not be made up.