Last-inning heroics lift E-National in state 13s run rally pins Johnson City with 9-8 setback BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN Elizabethton National rallied for five runs in the last of the seventh to take a 9-8 victory over Johnson City on Thursday night at Elizabethton High School in the Junior Babe Ruth 13-year-old tournament. Johnson City defeated Smokey Mountain in extra innings 8-7 in the opener and then had to turn around and play against the Nationals after a short rain delay. “Johnson City had to be a little tired at this point,” pointed out Elizabethton manager Rick Walters. “This was a tough game and our kids responded well. We never thought we were out of it.” With a light but steady rain coming down, Johnson City scored a pair of runs in the top of the first as Josh Francisco and Lawson Sizemore had oneout base knocks off Nationals lefty Wyatt Lyons. Colt Campbell dropped an RBI single into short right field and Jake Blevins followed suit as the JC bats were a bit slow against the hard-throwing Lyons, but the ball found the empty spaces and gave the Stars a 2-0 lead. Elizabethton scored four runs on just one hit in the second stanza as JC starter Blevins walked four of the first five hitters he faced. A wild pitch brought home the tying run and Weston Crow’s RBI single to center gave ’Betsy a 3-2 lead and moments later Braden Perry drew a bases-loaded walk to make it a 4-2 contest. JC cut the lead to 4-3 in the fourth as Austin Cox walked with the bases juiced. Walters went with Colton Miller in relief and he retired Nakiya Smith on a fielder’s choice grounder to third that cut down the lead runner at the plate. The next hitter for JC, Francisco ripped a liner to first base that Lyons snagged going to his left. He stepped on first to double up the runner and end the threat. JC sent 10 hitters to the dish in the fifth, scoring five times to take what looked like an insurmountable 8-4 lead. Campbell singled with one away, and both Blevins and Will Mackorel each walked to load the bases for JC once again. Garrett Osborne delivered a run-scoring hit to right as JC played station-to-station ball and Hunter Seehorn ripped an RBI hit to give the Stars their first lead of the game at 5-4. Cox knocked in his second and third runs of the game with a double to center field and an infield error allowed one more JC run to cross the plate as the Stars took a four-run lead. Campbell came in to pitch for JC to start the third inning and he pitched well, striking out eight, walking five and surrendered just two hits as JC cruised through the next four innings — holding Elizabethton to no runs over that stretch. In the last of the seventh, things turned quickly as Smith – coming on in relief – lost the zone and walked both Jacob Frye and Everett Hunt — and Ethan Eggleston beat out a slow roller to second to load the sacks for ’Betsy. Crow plated two runs with a single to right to make it an 8-6 game, then Smith issued a free pass to Perry to load the bases once again. Lyons walked to force home another run and make it a one run game at 8-7, and forcing JC manager Mark Jackson to pull Smith. Francisco came on and on a two-and-two pitch Miller delivered a sharp single to center, and Perry beat the relay throw to the plate with the winning run. “I’m real proud of these kids,” Walters said. “The key to baseball is on any given night you can beat anybody. Johnson City is tough and this is the first time in a while we’ve been able to pull one out against them.” Johnson City will meet Smokey Mountain once again in the losers bracket at 5:30 p.m., with the winner taking on the Nationals at 8 p.m. The championship game, should Elizabethton lose, will take place on Saturday.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 16:38:46 +0000