The Sebring All-Stars ran into some solid pitching and tough defense on Saturday and dropped their opening round match to Marion County, 10-0, at the Dixie Youth Pre-Majors (ages 15-16) state tournament in Chipley.
Sebring now falls to the losers' bracket, where they'll face the loser of the game between Hernando and Sneeds at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Josh Chavis had a double, and Josh Acevedo and Jesse Baker each added singles, but it was all the offense the Sebring team could muster against a talented Marion County squad, which was fresh off a tournament in Alabama.
"It was one of those games where we hit it right at someone every time," said Sebring coach Scott Hoffner. "We had a bunch of great defensive plays, they just had one blowout inning, and the score looks worse than the game was."
The game was knotted at zero after three innings when Marion struck, scoring five runs in the fourth.
"That's what killed us," Hoffner said, noting Marion County's pitcher racked up nine strikeouts. "Marion County's one of the top teams here. We're going to get them again -- we'll go to the losers' bracket and try to make our way to the finals."

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