LEWISBURG — Garrett Woodyard brought home the winning run to give Tri-County North the lead in the sixth inning, as the Panthers hung on to beat National Trail 5-4 in a key Cross County Conference baseball game last week. The game was completed on Friday, April 29 after weather conditions forced a postponement on Tuesday.
North remained in the hunt for the CCC title with the win, while the Blazers dropped two games back of Arcanum in the title chase. Both teams entered the contest with one league loss.
Jordan Overcash doubled to get on base in the sixth. He then went from second to third on a passed ball.
Woodyard racked up two RBIs on three hits for North.
North jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second. The rally started when Overcash singled. A single by Bo Hendrickson then moved Overcash from first to second. Woodyard doubled, plating Overcash. The Panthers then tacked on two more runs when Hendrickson and Woodyard scored on a two-run single by Bailey Lairson.
National Trail pushed across two runs in both the third inning and the sixth. In the third, National Trail scored on an RBI single by Logan Pettit, scoring Billy Lanman.
The Panthers matched their one-run fifth inning with one more in the sixth. In the fifth, North scored on a sacrifice fly by Sproles, plating Lairson.
Lightning caused the game to be suspended in the top of the fourth with TCN up 3-2. When play resumed on Friday, both teams were held scoreless in the fourth. TCN picked up a run in the fifth.
The Blazers battled back in the top of the sixth and tied the game up at 4-4. After the first two Blazer hitters were retired, Hunter Lindsey got things started when he was hit by a pitch. Hunt followed up with an RBI double to right. Hunt came around to score later in the inning when Bane walked after getting down in the count 0-2. The Blazers then left the bases loaded to end the inning.
TCN scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the sixth after a lead off double got things started. A wild pitch moved the runner to third and he scored when Woodyard collected his third hit of the game.
Woodyard accounted for three of TCN’s seven hits and tallied three RBIs.
NT didn’t go down without a fight, as Chip Parker and Lindsey collected two-out singles in the seventh before the last out ended the game 5-4.
The Blazers equaled the Panthers’ hits with seven. Logan Pettit led the way with two hits. Hunt’s double was the lone extra base hit for NT as Huffman, Bane, Parker and Lindsey each collected singles. Lanman reached base three times via walks.
“The TCN loss was a tough one, not just because it is a county rivalry, but because of what it meant in the league standings. We were each tied for second in the CCC with one loss behind Arcanum,” Trail coach Jeff Parker said.
“I am proud of our kids because we never went away. We scratched and clawed and tied it up in the sixth from a two run deficit. Even in the seventh with two outs we put together a couple of hits and had the tying run at second. I love how our kids play. North is a very solid team and well coached. For the most part I think it was two evenly matched teams playing a one run ballgame… That’s baseball.”
