OAK HILL- With Central Greenbrier’s 10U and 12U teams already locked in the state tournament, the 11U’s are all that’s left as they opened their district tournament on Monday night, June 30 in Oak Hill against Midland Trail.
So far so good as the 11U team won in dramatic fashion when they scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 1-run deficit and take a critical 5-4 victory.
After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning and then watching that Midland Trail lead frow to 4-0 in the third, CG put on their hard hats and went to work on the comeback trail and started in the bottom half of the third frame.
Kaeson Kisner got on base to lead off and two batters later, Ivan Elmore singled to left field. Carson Simmons then walked and the next batter, Jackson Crane, put the ball in play and reached on an error. On that same miscue, Kisner and Elmore scored, and Central Greenbrier was right back in it trailing just 4-2.
Mason Kirby shut down what could have been a big inning for Midland Trail when he ended it by turning a nice double play and gave his offense a chance to get back up to the plate.
Mason Hedrick’s RBI single made the score 4-3 in the fourth.
Kisner had come on the mound to pitch in relief of Grayson Knapp and got a big strikeout to finish of the top of the sixth and it left Central one chance to tie or win the game.
They chose the second option.
After a quick first out in the bottom of the sixth, Ryder Ward drew a walk and then Knapp got a base hit. Then with two outs and CG clinging to slim hope, Kirby and Hedrick both walked, and Hedrick’s brought a run in. Finally, on a 3-2 count with the bases loaded and two outs, Kisner lined a game-winning single to left that scored Knapp and Central Greenbrier kept their name in the winner’s bracket after game one.
Knapp was 2-2 at the plate and scored a run. Ward got a hit and scored twice, and Hedrick and Crane each had two RBIs on the evening.
Kisner picked up the pitching win after throwing the final 1.1 innings with two strikeouts.
Central Greenbrier will play the winner of Princeton and Trap Hill on Tuesday evening, July 1 at 6:00 in Oak Hill.
