Smithfield-Selma's Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League baseball team belied the theory that wood bats are harder to use than the ubiquitous metal bats found at high schools and colleges. The Spartans pounded out 10 hits in seven innings last weekend to down East Chapel Hill 4-2 and win the fifth Wood Bat Invitational baseball tournament.

"This is the highlight of our summer," SSS coach Mike Joyner said. "The players really look forward to it every year."

The victory in Saturday night's final was Smithfield-Selma's second win of the day in the Scholastic Summer League tournament, improving the Spartans' record to 11-3 overall.

In Saturday afternoon's first game, the Spartans used two-run homers from Ben Youngblood and Tyler Cassellbury to come from behind for a 6-5 win over host Orange; the game was the completion of a game halted Friday night because of rain and lightning. SSS trailed 1-0 when the rain came.

Orange went on to down Bunn, 2-1, in the tournament's consolation game.

After planned Game 2 starter Josh Harper was forced into Game 1, picking up the win, Dylan Homick started the championship game and got that win on the mound. He struck out five and walked three in 5.1 innings of work.

Harper appeared in Game 2, striking out two batters to end the sixth inning and leave the would-be tying run at the plate. Blake Mitchell came on the seventh, facing a bases-loaded situation with one out before fanning the last two Wildcats and earning a save.

Mitchell, 3-for-5 at the plate, Cassellbury (2-for-2) and Homick (2-for-3) helped each other with effective hitting.

"It was just us jumping on fast balls," Mitchell said. "We had a pretty good pitch selection at the plate. A lot of us hit with wood bats in the bating cage, so that helps, too."

Every Spartan made contact with the ball his first time at the plate. Two errors to start the game, followed by a hit from Mitchell, loaded the bases in the top of the first.

Cassellbury and Homick followed with a two-run double and a single, respectively, to give SSS a 3-0 lead. Homick made it 4-0 by reaching home on a double-steal.

"We talked before the game about being aggressive at the plate, early in the count," Joyner said. "That's been a point of focus for us this summer."

Homick and Mitchell, both of them fast-ball pitchers, agreed that East starting pitcher Alex Moore forced the Spartans to be more patient with their wood bats than they would have liked.

"We hate curve balls," Mitchell said. "We came to the plate looking for fast balls."

"The guy threw nothing but curve balls, so we took the first pitch and just waited for the first fast ball we saw," Homick said.

Moore and infielder Jordan Cho got the Wildcats' only hits. The 'Cats relied on small ball to get their runs, both coming in on fielder's choice RBIs by Jonah Keyserling and then Moore.