By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

The Clanton Middle School Tigers took their talent on the road over the weekend and brought home a second-place finish in the Prattville Preseason Tournament.

The Tigers got their tournament run started on Feb. 26 with a 10-6 win over the Prattville Lions and a 1-0 loss to the Enterprise Wildcats.

A 5-1 loss to the Auburn Tigers in the final game of pool play setup the Tigers with the No. 3 seed as elimination play began.

The Tigers rebounded just fine with a 13-4 win over Millbrook in the first round of the tournament.

Clanton went on to avenge its loss to Auburn with a 4-0 win over the Tigers in a play-in game that set up another rematch against Enterprise for the championship.

The Tigers wasted little time getting out in front of the Wildcats with a three-run top of the first inning.

With Lawson Patterson and Cameron Baker aboard via singles, a walk to Preston Smith loaded the bases, and a three-run double by Deuntae Childers put the Tigers up 3-0 early on.

The Wildcats answered in the bottom of the second with a two-run double by Morgan Jeffers to cut Clanton’s lead to 3-2 after one inning of play.

A walk by Dalton Patterson was all the offense the Tigers managed in the second, while the Wildcats tied things up in the bottom half with an infield ground ball that scored a run.

The Tigers went in order in the top half of the third inning and found themselves trailing by two, as the Wildcats tacked on two more runs and led 5-3 after three innings.

A single by Rylee Thornton and Si Richards set up a run-scoring ground ball from Dalton Patterson to cut the Wildcat lead to one, but Enterprise answered with a run of their own to reclaim a two-run lead heading into the final inning.

Needing two runs in order to keep the game going, three consecutive ground balls brought the game to a close, as the Tigers lost 6-4 and came one win shy of the tournament championship.

Childers led the Tigers at the plate with a 1-for-2 performance that included a double and three RBIs.

Tucker Price pitched 2 2/3 innings for Clanton, allowing just one hit and four walks while recording four strikeouts.