The Greeneville Parks & Rec held the 11-12 little league championship on Thursday night as Home Improvement defeated Tuff Torq, 4-3, to capture gold.
July 4th may have been five days ago, but Thursday’s matchup had plenty of fireworks involved. Once the action resumed after lengthy lightning delays halted things, it was an eventful evening at Optimist Field. Home runs, diving catches, pitching heroics, and much more highlighted the championship game.
The contest started, but was held up due to lightning within 10 miles of the field. After two separate 30-minute lightning delays the action resumed in the first inning. Home Improvement landed the first punch and scored a pair of runs through a pair of mistakes to take a 2-0 lead early in the first.
Both offenses stayed quiet in the second inning before the fireworks began.
Tuff Torq flipped the game on its head in the top of the third. Owens Higgins and Jace Mulhall led off with back-to-back walks. The next two batters suffered outs, but the inning wasn’t over yet. Easton Gillespie smacked a 3-run home run over the right field fence for a momentum-shifting home run.
Tuff Torq led 3-2 midway through the third, but not for long.
Lorenzo Reaves led off the bottom half with a single and Alex Leake moved him over to third with another single right after. Both runners stood in scoring position after Leake advanced to second on a catcher’s indifference. Hinton Peters grounded out to the pitcher, but Reaves advanced home on the throw and tied it 3-3. Trevor Fleming grounded out to shortstop, but helped regain the lead with Leake scoring on the throw.
Home Improvement led 4-3 after the third.
Tuff Torq threatened to take the lead in the top of the fourth and loaded the bases with two outs. No balls were put in play for all three runners to reach. A catcher’s interference and two walks loaded them up. Hinton Peters stepped in as a reliever with 2 outs and put out the fire with a strikeout to play hero.
Home improvement held their lead and moved into the bottom half with limited time remaining in the game. Three quick outs in the bottom half sent the game to the top of the fifth when the time limit expired and gave Tuff Torq three more outs with a chance to win.
For a moment it seemed as if Tuff Torq had a comeback in them. Emmett Martha reached first base to begin the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball. Eli Klepper dropped a hit into right field next and put runners on the corners with no outs. Hinton Peters got the first out by way of the K. Jayce Jones made the defensive play of the game next with an incredible diving catch at second base to hold the runners still and save the tying run from scoring. Patrick Ramsey ended the game by scooping up a grounder and tossing it to first in time.
Home Improvement took home first place with a 4-3 victory in the end.
