PORT ANGELES — Trailing Lions 4-3 and on its last strike in the top of the sixth inning, Swain’s rallied to score the tying run and eventually claimed the 12U Cal Ripken League city championship 5-4 in seven innings.
“It was a great game,” Swain’s coach Pat Nickerson said.
“We battled back, the kids never gave up. And it wasn’t just this game, it was all season.
“That’s why us coming back down 4-1 in the last inning didn’t surprise me. They’ve done it before.”
Thursday’s game at Jim Lunt Memorial Field at Lincoln Park was certainly worthy of a title tilt, complete with three in-game flyovers from four military helicopters.
The heroics on the field were even better.
Swain’s was the first team to take advantage of strong winds blowing straight out to center field.
Beckett Jarnagin lofted an Eli Cyr pitch into the wind and it carried off the wall in center for a double.
Two outs later, Logan Williams’ RBI single to the right-center gap brought home Jarnagin and put Swain’s up 1-0.
Lions’ right fielder Elisha Howard made the first defensive gem of the game, a one-handed snag on the first bounce of Williams’ hit and holding him to a single with a quick throw to the infield.
Howard later tied the game with a hard-hit line drive home run off Swain’s starter Kamron Noard that landed just over the left-field fence to square the game at 1-1.
Lions added two more in the bottom of the third.
Dru Clark hit the first of his two singles up the middle and moved to third after Dan Cable doubled to left-center.
Cyr then hit a chopper to shortstop that was mishandled, allowing both runners to score.
Lions helped out Cyr with good defense as the team rolled through innings three through five by allowing just one baserunner.
Noard allowed three straight singles with one out in the fifth as Lions went up 4-1.
He left the game after recording his 11th strikeout, and relief pitcher Chase Cobb ended the threat by getting a groundout.
“That’s not a typical Kamron performance, he was a little high in the zone, but he still did great with all those strikeouts,” Nickerson said.
“You can imagine what it’s like to hit against him when he’s really got it going.”
Swain’s started its sixth-inning rally with a one-out drive to the wall in left field by Matt Mangano.
Mangano reached third base on the play and scored when Jarnagin doubled to left to make it 4-2.
Brontyn Fisler singled and Jarnagin scored on a groundout by Robby Fors.
Cyr left the game at that point, having struck out six and walked two in his 5 2/3 innings pitched.
Michael Soule relieved Cyr got the result he wanted, a grounder to short from Williams, but the ball was mishandled and a hustling Fisler scored the tying run from second.
Cobb and Swain’s put together a 1-2-3 sixth inning, sending the game to extra innings.
After two quick outs in the top of the seventh, Noard laced a triple down the left-field line.
Mangano grounded to third, but an error on the throw to first allowed Noard to come in with the winning run.
“Late in the game, we got away from the fundamentals that had really worked for us all game and all season,” Lions coach Wicus McGuffey said.
Cobb kept it up on the mound in Lions’ (17-2) last chance at the plate, shutting down the top of its order.
He was aided by strong plays in the field on two high choppers to Noard at shortstop and a good snag by Mangano at third base.
“His [Cobb’s] velocity wasn’t what it usually is, but the thing he did is hit his spots really well,” Nickerson said.
“We have all the confidence in the world in him.
“That was our pitching plan, to have Noard go into the fifth and Chase relive him, and it really worked.”
Cobb allowed no hits and no runs in his 2 2/3 innings of relief to earn the championship win.
“We have a lot more pitching depth than other teams, and I think that helped us out when we got to that point,” Nickerson said of the later innings.
“They got to the end and had to make a pitching change, and we still had some guys left to go.”
Nickerson said pitching depth has been a factor Swain’s relied upon all season in rolling to a 15-3 record.
“We wait until late in games when teams have to make pitching changes and outlast them,” Nickerson said.
Swain’s 5, Lions 4, 7 innings
Swain’s 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 — 5 7 2
Lions 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 — 4 7 3
WP- Cobb; LP- Soule
Pitching Statistics
Swain’s: Noard 4 1/3 IP, 4 R, 7 H, BB, 11 K; Cobb 2 2/3 IP, K.
Lions: Cyr 5 2/3 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 2 BB 6 K; Soule IP, R, 2 H, 2 K, BB; Howard 1/3 IP, K.
Hitting Statistics
Swain’s: Jarnagin 3-4 2 2B, RBI; Williams 1-3, 2 RBI; Noard 3B, R; Mangano 2B, R; Fisler 1-2, HBP, BB.
Lions: Howard 1-3, HR, RBI; Ford 2B; Clark 2-3; Cable 2-3, 2 RBI;
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
