Down 5-1 to Pineville/Bell after four innings on Sunday in the East Division of the District 4 Tournament (ages 9-10), the Harlan All-Stars did what they do best.
Harlan rallied for a first-round win over Knox County to open the tournament, then followed that with a 20-6 victory over Pineville that was stopped by rain midway through the seventh inning on Sunday before being completed Monday.
“We have a bunch of kids that has fight in them and the coaches call them ‘The Comeback Kids,’” Harlan All-Stars coach Steven Johnson said. “We have had to rally both games from behind in the last inning and went to sudden death in eight innings today.”
Harlan almost lost the game in the bottom of the seventh inning as Gunnar Christopher was hit by a pitch and Donnie Maidon singled to open play Monday. Landen Smith saved the game when he ran down a line drive hit by Brennan Lambert. Harlan pitcher Seth Johnson, who gave up only one hit and one run over four innings with five strikeouts and three walks, struck out the next two to push the game into the eighth inning.
“Seth came in and shut them down with no doubt a lot of pressure for a 9-year-old to deal witth,” Johnson said. “Brylee Southerland came in against Knox and kept us in the game, and he is 9 as well. This bunch came out to hit the ball today and showed what they could truly do.”
Gabriel Helton scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch as Harlan exploded for 15 runs with the help of 10 walks and two errors. Jesse Pendegrass had a three-run triple in the inning and added a single earlier in the game. Johnson had an RBI double in the inning, his second of the game. Helton had a single earlier in.the game for Harlan.
Maddox Sziksai and Donnie Maidon led Pineville with two singles each. Waylon Maidon had one single.
Harlan will play Hazard/Perry on Wednesday at 6 p..m. in the winners bracket finals. Try-City will play Pineville at 6 and Knox County will play Middlesboro at 8 in games Tuesday at Huff Park. Knox eliminated Leslie County with a 23-13 win in the second game Monday.
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Harlan advanced with a come-from-behind 12-11 win over Knox County on Saturday as Brylee Southerland brought in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.
Seth Johnson led the Harlan offense with two singles. Judah Shope added an inside-the-park homer.
Southerland struck out five in three innings on the mound. Gabriel Helton, Seth Johnson, Bryson Mills and Shope also saw mound duty with Shope getting the win.
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Harlan 100 022 0(15) — 20. 5. 1
Pineville 004 100 01 — 6. 5. 7
Helton, Mills (2), Johnson (5) and Johnson, Helton (2); Christopher, Sziksai (4) W. Maidon (5), Johnson (6), Lambert (8), Gambrel (8) and D. Maidon. WP — Johnson. LP — Lambert.