By JAY TIDWELL/Sports Writer

The bats stayed red hot for the Red Sox.

Home runs in the first inning by Lee Wilson and Jake Smithey and a solid pitching performance by Blake O'Callaghan led Pontotoc to a 14-3 win against Corinth in the championship game of the American Legion state baseball tournament at Pontotoc High field on Tuesday of last week.

“This time was special, because of what we were able to do at Pontotoc,” said head coach Nickey Browning, whose squad won its last state title in a tournament played at Tupelo in 2007.

The Red Sox (30-7) swept through the six-team field, winning each of its four games by 10 runs or more.

Wins against Itawamba (30-7), Tupelo (12-1) and Corinth (16-0) set up Tuesday afternoon's rematch against the Alcorn County squad.

O'Callaghan (Pontotoc/ICC) recorded the win on the mound in the title game, pitching six innings with eight strike outs.

After Corinth pulled within 6-3 in the bottom of the first, O'Callaghan, a left-hander, kept it scoreless with a heavy dose of off-speed pitches.

Myles Snyder (North Pontotoc/NEMCC) tossed the seventh to complete the ten-run rule finish.

“I was a little rusty,” said O'Callaghan, who was making his first start in more then ten days.

“But I finally found it, and started throwing strikes.”

Pontotoc advances to the Mid-South Regional in Grand Prairie, Texas, which begins on Thursday.

The winners of the eight regionals across the country will play in the World Series on August 13-17 in Spokane, Washington.

Big first inning is enough

The Red Sox got all the runs they needed in their first at bat.

Jeremy Ferguson (North Pontotoc/ICC) walked and Zach Chavers (Pontotoc/ICC) doubled to set up the three-run blast by Wilson (Wheeler/Lipscomb).

Will Wallis (Ripley/NEMCC) was hit by a pitch, and Smithey (Pontotoc/Miss. State) followed with a two-run homer to almost the same spot along the hill beyond the right-field fence as Wilson's.

Corinth was unable to generate much more offense, stranding a pair of runners in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings.

A sacrifice fly by Wilson scored Ferguson in the top of the seventh to make it 13-3.

Smithey's bloop single to center advanced David Bowen (South Pontotoc/ICC) for the final run.

“Our pitching started us off and really set the pace for us,” said Wilson, who finished the tournament with 11 hits, including a pair of home runs and three doubles.

“They went out there and shut guys down and gave us a zero across the board for a lot of innings, and that gave us confidence as hitters to go up there and score a lot of runs.”