It looked like all the life was sucked out of the Hilltown Hardwood and Flooring West County Warriors heading into the bottom of the fourth inning at Mohawk Trail Regional School, Tuesday.
West County trailed the Pioneer Stone Seals/Scottys 8-1 in the opening round of the PVYBL Mickey Mantle playoffs, and down six starters, a comeback seemed unlikely.
But just when they looked out out it, they rallied, scoring six runs in the fourth to pave the way to a 12-11 comeback victory.
“I told the kids this is the most satisfying win I’ve had coaching in this program, which has been several years,” Warriors coach Justin Moffatt said. “They just wouldn’t quit. We got down early, we made a lot of mistakes. I always tell them it’s how you respond. Sometimes kids can get down and I felt we did a good job picking each other up. They kept battling.”
Jaden Moore and Logan Jacobs walked to start the bottom of the fourth, and after a Jake Perkins strikeout, Rosco Palmer hit a single, the Warriors second hit of the game, to bring in Moore and put a run on the board.
Wyatt Edes then walked to load the bases for Cam Lococo, who hit a single to bring in a run. Jared Jacobs walked the next at bat, bringing in another run and Matt Pollen hit a single in the next at bat to bring in a pair of runs. Jacobs later scored on a passed ball and suddenly the Warriors trailed by just one with three innings to play.
“It seemed like we had some walks, so we had some baserunners, but we couldn’t get a timely hit,” Moffatt said. “That inning, once we did, it seemed like everything kept going from there. The kids gained a lot of confidence that inning and I think that made a big difference, both offensively and defensively, the rest of the way.”
Pioneer would not surrender its lead easily.
James Robison got on to open the fifth inning with an error, and Dalton Henderson advanced him with a single.
With Robison and Henderson on, and two outs recorded in the inning, Max Leh came through with a triple to clear the bases. Kyle Brunelle brought Leh in to score on the next at bat and the Stone Seals regained a four run lead going into the bottom of the fifth.
The Warriors tallied one run in the bottom of the fifth, when Jake Perkins stole home when Pioneer attempted to throw Edes out stealing second.
The Stone Seals failed to add to their lead in the sixth, but the West County bats were not done.
Jacobs opened with a single, and Pollen followed it with a double to put runners on second and third for Sam Schrieber, who came through with a double that brought both runners home.
Moore walked to put two runners on base, and after Jacobs struck out, Perkins hit a single that brought both Schrieber and Moore home for what would end up being the game winning run.
Pioneer put two runners on in the seventh, with singles from Caden Lehtomaki and Leh, but Edes was able to get three fly outs on the mound to preserve the win.
“They could have easily quit,” Moffatt said, “but they stayed up and they were determined that they were going to go back out and get more and they did. I couldn’t be more proud of these kids.”
Jacobs pitched the first four innings for West County, giving up eight runs and ten hits. Edes picked up the win, pitching the final three innings, allowing six hits.
Leh got the start for Pioneer, but after walking three of the first four batters, he was replaced by Lehtomaki, who pitched five innings, striking out six. Robison came in to get the final three outs for the Stone Seals.
Jacobs led the way with a pair of hits for the Warriors, while Pollen, Perkins and Schrieber each had a pair of RBIs.
Gavin Rubio had a pair of doubles in the loss, Kyle Brunelle had four RBIs and Leh had three hits and three RBIs.