By Scott Vanscoy
HURLEY, Mo. — The Hurley Tigers had to fight their way back in the late innings to defeat the Greenfield Wildcats, 8-4, in the Class 1 District 6 championship game.
Hurley used the bottom of its order to do most of the damage. Hurley’s eight and nine hitters went a combined 6-for-8 in the game, with three RBIs and three runs scored.
SEE PHOTOS FROM WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Hurley senior Brandon Page was the hitting star of the night, going 4-for-4 at the plate. Page had been struggling on the offensive end, but turned it around when it mattered most.
“I hit the ball well tonight,” Page said. “I was just totally zoned in and ready to get the W.”
Hurley coach Joey Little was quick to credit the bottom of his lineup.
“The bottom of the order was huge tonight,” said Little. “They hadn’t been hitting like that all year. I told them today, you’ve had the best batting practice the last couple of days and those kids at the bottom of the order were ripping the ball.”
Hurley led 2-0 early in the game, only to see Greenfield tie it up in the third inning when the Wildcats plated two unearned runs. Greenfield then took a 3-2 lead following an error in the bottom of the fifth.
Senior Isaac Carlson toed the rubber for the Tigers, allowing four hits, three walks, and no earned runs.
“I have to say my teammates encouraged me every time I came into the dugout,” Carlson said. “If it was a rough inning, they’d tell me, ‘you’ve got this,’ and coaches, same thing. The fans, they helped big time. They were in it the whole time, so it was awesome.”
Austin Jackson and Page the Hurley going in the sixth with base hits. Hicks followed with an RBI single with two outs. The next two batters were walked, forcing in a run.
Carson delivered the big blow with a two-run single to right field.
In the seventh inning, Hurley’s two-out magic continued when Page and Hicks had two doubles, driving in two runs, making the score 8-3.
Hurley scored seven of their eight runs with two outs.
“We were a little tight early and after a couple of errors we gave them a couple of runs,” Little said. “After about the third or fourth inning we buckled down and started playing baseball, starting hitting the ball a little more.”
Greenfield did not go down without a fight.
Carlson reached his pitch limit in the sixth as the Tigers brought in junior Chase Simpson to close. After walking the first three batters he faced, Simpson got a mound visit from Carlson, now at shortstop.
“I went and told him, we’ve been in this situation before, just calm down, you’ve got it, you’re here for a reason,” Carlson said. “He’s been in these situations, I knew he could do it.”
Carlson then made the defensive play of the night when he dove to his left and caught a screamer up the middle. The play helped calm Simpson down and gave Hurley all the momentum. Simpson, who allowed one run in the seventh, got the next two batters to fly out to end the game.
“Isaac Carlson, what a gamer,” Little said. “About the third inning he came around second and felt like he pulled something. We talked about it, he wanted to stay in, so he sucked it up. He is the main leader, he’s the hardest working guy on the team. He’s a gamer.”
Hurley has won three district titles in a row, with this one being just as sweet as the others.
“I’m really proud of our boys, especially the bottom of the order,” Little said. “We started the year off at 1-4, but we had some tough losses. We learned from them. Right now we are 12-6, we’ve been playing good ball. Our pitching is coming around and we are hitting the ball hard. I’m proud of this team.”
