ELKINS- Sometimes a good game can seem like it lasts two days. In the case of Central Greenbrier 12U and Logan, it literally did. After lightning halted play in the bottom of the sixth inning on Wednesday evening, both teams went back to their hotels with a continuation set to resume on Thursday evening.
And what a finish it was.
After falling behind on Thursday evening 10-7, CG’s Trenton Skaggs blasted a game winning walk-off grand slam to send Central Greenbrier to the next round.
In a wild first inning, both teams lit up the scoreboard in each of their respective plate appearances.
Logan came up first and gained a lot of confidence after scoring four runs and jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. Two consecutive RBI singles and a Central Greenbrier error led to another run.
But not to be outdone, CG approached the plate in the bottom half and answered right back. Hendo Bostic led off with a single then after a walk to Trenton Skaggs, Zander Rodoussakis got a base hit to load the bases. That sequence was followed by two quick outs, and it appeared Central Greenbrier was about to blow a huge opportunity to put runs on the board, but things changed quickly. Tucker Sibold drew a walk which gave him an RBI and then Graham McDaniel singled home Skaggs. The inning was capped by Dawson Holliday’s 2-run base hit, and CG came back for a 5-4 lead after one.
Logan then regained the lead right back in the second which was aided by four walks and just one base hit. Still, after the top half of the second frame, Logan had regained a 6-5 advantage.
The scoring stopped for a short stretch but picked back up in the bottom of the third when Cam Bectel was able to score on a wild pitch and the game was notched at 6-all.
It wasn’t until the top of the fifth that Logan broke the tie.
They also scored on a wild pitch and gained a 7-6 lead late in the contest.
Central Greenbrier tied it up at 7-all in the bottom of the fifth and a couple innings later, the weather intervened on a great contest. The play stopped in the bottom of the sixth with McDaniel on first base, Jax Parker at-bat with an 0-2 count and two out.
When play resumed on Thursday evening, Logan got out of the inning unscathed and proceeded to score three gut-punching runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a commanding 10-7 lead.
But commanding, it was not.
CG loaded the bases in the bottom half of the extra session and into the batter’s box stepped Skaggs. On a 2-2 pitch, Skaggs swung and drilled a game-winning walk off grand slam to give Central Greenbrier the heroic and thrilling 11-10 win. The place went crazy.
Skaggs ended the game 2-3, two runs, with a HR, four RBIs. Bostic went 3-4 and scored two runs. McDaniel also had two hits as Central pounded out 11 hits in the contest.
Cain Taylor got the win on the mound. Skaggs also pitched 4.1 innings of shutout baseball with six strikeouts.
Central plays Barboursville right now, tonight, Thursday, July 17 at 6:00 PM.
