BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Kaedan Parks hit four doubles and drove in three runs for the Bradford Middle School baseball team, which defeated third seed Fort White 8-4 in the semifinals of the Suwannee Middle Athletic Conference Tournament on April 23 in Lake Butler.
The second seed Tornadoes (4-6-1) will play number-one seed Lake Butler (14-2-2) for the championship on Thursday, April 25, at 6 p.m. at Lake Butler’s O.J. Phillips Recreation Complex.
Bradford scored the game’s first runs in the second inning. Lucas White walked and scored on a Bryce Cadle double. Charlie Morgan and Julian Rhoden walked before Cadle scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0.
It was 3-1 in favor of the Tornadoes when they scored two runs in the fourth. Braxton Mitchell and Kyler Hall both singled and then scored on a Parks double.
The Tornadoes led 5-4 before scoring its final three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Hall singled and stole second and third. He scored on a single from Damarion “Bug” Dodd. Dodd stole second and third before scoring on Park’s fourth double of the game. Gabriel Rhoden followed with his own run-scoring double.
Parks finished 4 for 4, while Cadle and Hall went 2 for 3 and 2 for 4, respectively.
Cadle, Dodd and Gabriel Rhoden each finished with one RBI.
Starting pitcher Morgan gave up one run and three hits, while striking out three in four innings.
