Brandon Warner’s walk-off bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh led Montesano’s 8-10 year-old team to a district title over 4-3 Centralia in Chehalis on Friday.
Montesano surrendered a run in the top of the seventh to go down 3-2 and responded in the bottom half of the inning by loading the bases.
Monte worked two walks and took advantage of an infield error to load the bases for Warner.
Montesano head coach Rex Peterson said he took advantage of the break in action from a Centralia pitching change to make sure Warner wasn’t over-thinking things at the plate.
“I just told him to relax,” he said. “We were pretty uptight yesterday. All the kids felt the weight of the world on their shoulders and yesterday would have been the championship if we won it. I just told them to relax and have fun.”
Montesano players mob Brandon Warner after hitting a walk-off single in the seventh inning to win districts and beat Centralia 4-3 on Friday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Starting pitcher and third basemen Damon Bird scored the game-tying run in the seventh and said it’s easy to have fun in games like this.
“That was really fun because we had to battle back all the way until the last inning,” he said. “Crossing the plate to be one of the winning runs felt really good.”
Warner’s single drove in Bird and Peter Bruland to send Montesano to the state tournament.
Monte needed some late-inning dramatics in the sixth inning as well. The Bulldogs entered the frame down 2-1 and were relying on Bruland to extend the game and the season when he came up to bat with two outs and the bases loaded.
Bruland showed a good eye at the plate and took a pitch in the dirt with the full count, allowing the tying run to score.
Peterson said he was impressed by the resilience his team showed.
“I’m so proud of these kids. These kids have fought hard all week and we beat a really tough Centralia team today,” he said. “They’re wonderful kids and I’m just so proud of them.”
The game was defined by clutch at-bats in the late innings, but pitching was dominant for both sides to start.
Bird pitched five innings and gave up two runs on a double down the right field line from Aden Purcival in the third inning.
When Bird reached his pitch limit he switched places with third basemen Max Peterson, who finished the game on the mound for Monte from the fifth inning on.
“Out pitchers did great. Damon shut them down for five innings and then Max Came in and closed the door,” Coach Peterson said. “It was fantastic.”
Montesano will head to Gig Harbor for the state tournament and will represent District 3 at the state tournament on July 6.
Bird was excited to pull out such a dramatic victory and added after celebrating with his teammates that he already has an eye set on the state-title trophy.
“We’re totally confident. We all think we might have a chance at state and we’re going to win.”
Montesano’s 8-10 year-old team holds up its district title banner and trophy after beating Centralia on Friday in Chehalis. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Centralia 002 000 1 – 3 6 3
Montesano 000 101 2 – 4 6 2
WP: Peterson (2 IP, 3 H, BB); LP – Caden Hackett (.1 IP, H, BB, 0 ER)
Top Hitters: Centralia – Purcival (2 RBI, 2B, 2 H); Montesano – Warner (2 H, RBI), Max Peterson (2 R, H, BB), Bird (H, BB, R)
