J. T. Phillips was the starting pitcher for the team from Georgia. He struck out two of the three batters he face in the top of the first inning. In the bottom half, Kyle Carter led off the game and hit what would have been a homerun last year but this year the fences were moved back 20 feet, and his fly ball was caught by the right fielder. The new sod that has been placed in the extended area of the field is a visible reminder of the larger field. The greater distance didn't prove to be a problem for Cody Walker as he hit a 1-2 breaking ball over the right-center field fence to give the Southeast the 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Phillips picked up his fifth strikeout of the game by retiring the side in order. But the Northern team went down almost as easily for a scoreless second inning. The teams traded runs in the third inning. The Mid-Atlantic team sent their little Babe Ruth to the plate and he came through with a single. His courtesy runner advanced to second base on a pass ball. Now the sacrifice was unnecessary for the hitter and he came through with a single to put runners at first and third. The shortest player in the tournament at 4 feet, 7 inches came through by hitting the first pitch he saw to right field for an RBI single. Now the New Yorkers are at the top of their lineup with runners at first and second. The first hitter popped up to shortstop Josh Lester. The next hitter hit an infield fly that third baseman Patrick Stallings fielded. The next batter walked to load the bases. The next batter hit a slow roller to Stallings at third who fired to first baseman Kyle Carter and the batter was out by a half-step.
Before the bottom of the third could start, the rains came and the tarp was brought out to cover the infield. What was initially thought to be about a 45-minute delay stretched to more than two hours. Both starting pitchers would return after the delay. Ryan Lang led off the inning with a single between the first and second baseman. The ball seemed to die as soon as it hitted the rain-soaked grass. Matthew Hollis advanced Lang to second with a sacrifice bunt. Carter came to the plate and got ready for the intentional walk, but the second pitch was a little too close to the plate and he reached out and tapped it to a surprised infield and got to first without a throw. With Josh Lester at the plate, the Mid-Atlantic team seemed distracted by Lang at second who was signaling the catcher's setup position to the batter. Lester popped out to the shortstop for the second out but homerun man Cody Walker hit a 2-2 pitch into left field to score Lang from second to give the Southeast team a 2-1 lead.
The top of the fourth went quietly with Phillips getting his sixth and seventh strikeouts. Mason Meyers led off the bottom of the fourth by hitting the first pitch he saw in the tournament over the head of the third baseman, but the inning would end with Meyers still at first. In the fifth, Phillips struck out the first batter. The next batter picked up the fourth hit for the team with a single. The next hitter reached first base when Stallings at third base couldn't field the wet ball cleanly. The runner now at second showed some good base-running by advancing to third when he realized that time had not been called. The next player grounded to second baseman Matthew Hollis who flipped to shortstop Josh Lester who thought about throwing to first to get the double play but the runner was already safe. The good base-running paid off as he had now scored the second New York run. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Josh Lester singled to center field and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Cody Walker walked but Phillips popped out to the left fielder standing on the new sod to end the inning.
To start off the sixth inning, Phillips recorded his ninth and tenth strikeouts. The third batter flew out to right fielder Ryan Lang. The Southeast team also went three-up and three-down in the sixth to send the game to extra innings. Both pitchers had pitched a great ball game but have now used up all of their eligible innings. Kyle Carter came to the mound in the seventh for the Southeast and promptly gave up a double that one-hopped the left field fence as the hitter fought off a high pitch around his eyes. The next hitter struck out and the third hitter grounded out to second to advance the runner to third base. Carter then picked up his second strikeout to end the scoring threat and the inning.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Ryan Lang caused further irritation for the Mid-Atlantic team by coaxing a walk from the new pitcher. Matthew Hollis advanced him to second with his second sacrifice. He was shaken up on the play when he was hit in the face by the glove of the first baseman but walked off with no further problems. Kyle Carter came to the plate and this time, the New Yorkers pitched him WAY outside. The 1-0 pitch almost went to the backstop. With Carter at first and Lang at second, Josh Lester came to the plate. He hit a 1-1 pitch to short center field and Lang came around from second to score the winning run.
In the regional tournament, it had been the Mid-Atlantic team, the Cardiac Kids, who were the walk-off winners but today it was the Southeast team from Columbus, Georgia that pulled it off before a crowd of 8,900 at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. The official game time was 4:00. Kyle Carter picked up the win and remains eligible to pitch in tomorrow's game at 1:00 against the West regional champions from Phoenix, Arizona.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| Mid-Atlantic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | |
| Southeast | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | |
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1: Walker solo home run
3: Lang singled and scored on Walker single 7: Lang walked and scored on Lester one-out single Pitching: Phillips 6IP, 25 batters, 10K, 2 runs (1 earned), 4 hits Carter 1IP, 4 batters, 2K, 1 hit | |||||||||||
