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The Rebels suffered a pair of one-run losses, the first to neighboring Humboldt Friday, the second to tourney host Marshall County in the Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament. Humboldt rallied from a 6-0 deficit to defeat McKenzie for the third straight time in post-season 12-11. Sunday, Marshall County eliminated the Rebs 4-3.

"We hit the ball well and made great plays, but we just couldn't get one to fall into that win column," said McKenzie coach Glyn Jones. "Nobody showed us up and we made a respectable appearance."

In Friday's game, the Rebels were staked to a big lead, thanks to a six-run first inning. But Humboldt, trailing 11-8, kept plugging away and knotted the score in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four times and taking the lead on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt.

McKenzie jumped on the Vikings when Josh Stenberg led off with a single. Jay Taylor walked and Brad Winston singled. Chris Wall singled, Jake Smith reached on an error and Matt Jones walked, scoring a run. All of those players scored. Clint Manns' sacrifice fly scored a run while Brian Toombs doubled and Demerick Diggs singled.

In the second, the Rebs notched another run. Walls singled and scored when Smith's single drove him in.

In the third, Taylor's home run scored Stenberg, who reached on a single. Winston also singled, Wall walked and Smith had another RBI hit.

After the third frame, the Rebel bats went dormant.

The Vikings crossed a pair of runs in the second, three in the third, three in the fifth to draw close and four in the sixth to secure the win.

Stenberg, Taylor, Winston, Smith and Toombs each had two hits for McKenzie. Wall, Jones and Diggs each had a hit. Manns had an RBI.

Sunday, in loser's bracket play, host Marshall County edged McKenzie in a nailbiter 4-3.

Rebel pitcher Matt Hutchinson had a no-hitter through five innings against the tournament host before leaving the game after 6 1/3 strong innings.

"We just couldn't make it hold up," said Jones. "We hit the ball well up and down the lineup, but we just couldn't get that one run."

A couple of suspect calls in the seventh inning enabled the host team to grab the advantage and win the game.

McKenzie finished as runner-up of the Area tournament, an event it hosted. Somehow, during district play, it was believed that only the Area champion would advance to state instead of the customary champion and runner-up. However, McKenzie learned, after suffering a loss in the finals to Humboldt, that it was indeed going to play in the seven-team draw at Lewisburg.

Actually, the only thing Lewisburg has to do with the McKenzie team at state is that it's the site for the Tennessee Babe Ruth tournament. McKenzie fans may remember the scandalous way Marshall County (located in Lewisburg) handled the substate softball round.

In any case, the McKenzie team, having lost 8-2 to Humboldt in the championship of the Area Tournament hosted by McKenzie Tuesday, thought its season was over. But McKenzie is headed to state. After a ruling from the state Babe Ruth office, the Rebel 17-19 team was allowed a berth in the now-seven-team tournament.

This time, the controversy centers on events long before the state tournament entered the picture.

Here's what happened:

McKenzie started post-season play in Decatur County and had a bad tournament. The team quickly lost a pair of games and had the Area tournament to look forward to. But someone in the state office deemed that the winner of the Decatur County tournament would qualify for state. That meant the winner of the Area tournament at McKenzie would advance to state and the runner-up, which customarily goes to state, would be left out of the mix.

Strangely enough, Decatur County won that first tournament and mysteriously qualified for state. McKenzie, which lost to Humboldt in the Area championship game Tuesday night, should have qualified, but did not.

Confusing? McKenzie coach Glyn Jones thought so.

"I didn't understand it," he said. "We thought the top four seeds would play in the Area tournament and the top two from that would go to state."

Jones said he was unaware that the winner of the district qualified for state and such a ruling made no sense.

"To be honest, I have no idea whose idea that was (to send the district winner to state) because our tournament is bigger (the area tournament)," Jones said. "Someone representing state before our tournament even started said that Decatur County would be going to state."

A call was placed to the state commissioner for a final judgment. Late Wednesday afternoon, Jones got the good news.

"This is a chance of a lifetime," said Jones. "This is only the second time in 25 years of coaching that I've ever taken a team to state."

The Rebs went 3-2 in the area event, but had opportunities to win all but one of the games, particularly the Humboldt game. But that's baseball.

"We should have won the game, but now we are going to get a second opportunity," Jones said.

McKenzie opened the tournament with Humboldt, the same Humboldt team that temporarily ended the Rebels' season. Other teams in the mix are Lafayette, Columbia, Decatur County, Lawrenceburg and Marshall County. McKenzie played Humboldt Friday afternoon (see related story).

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