By Nathaniel Frazier-Dothan Eagle
It was an ending that no one saw coming.
Playing against the Chattahoochee Valley Pirates Sunday night, the LBW Saints were only three outs away from ending the game by virtue of the 10-run rule. The Saints led 12-2 in the seventh inning.
But a funny thing happened on the way to victory lane. The Pirates found another gear as CVCC scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh, three more in the eighth, and even though they were trailing by four runs headed into the bottom of the ninth, they scored five.
The result was a shocking come-from-behind 15-14 win for the Pirates in the ACCC state baseball tournament at Northcutt Field.
Despite everything that had happened, the Saints led 14-10 going into the final half inning of play. It began innocently enough when Holt Parker walked to lead off the inning. The Saints then went to their third pitcher of the night, Steven Long. He promptly gave up a single to Steven Duhaime, and an RBI single to Ben Lillis. Next came a walk to Alex Montes to load the bases with no outs.
Kuyaunnis Miles plated the second run with his single. A two-RBI double by K.D. Kang tied the game at 14. Four runs had now scored and there were still no outs. That was the end of the night for Long.
In came Ryan Cooke, who intentionally walked Chris Banker to load the bases. It appeared as though the Saints might have a little life to play on when their luck changed. Antonio Calloway lined to the right fielder who was playing very shallow to cut off a run at the plate. But in the process, he also doubled up the runner at first base to get the second out.
But Tristen Farrell came through with the biggest hit of the game. He singled up the middle to plate the winning run, and the improbable comeback was complete.
The comeback had actually started in the bottom of the seventh when Daneil Holder was knocked from the game. Before leaving, he had given up a two-RBI single to Miles, and an RBI double to Kang. He was also credited with given up two more runs when his relief pitcher gave up a two-RBI single to Chris Banker.
LBW had built their lead by scoring three runs in the second inning, three more in the fourth, two in the sixth, and finally four in the top of the seventh. Until that seventh inning, CVCC had only managed single runs in the first and second innings.
In the other late Sunday game, Central Alabama beat Southern Union 12-5.
ACCC STATS
