Bryant's bats may have been silent for most of Saturday night but the Blacksox used a three-run, ninth-inning rally to take down Columbia Post 19 in the winners' bracket finals of the American Legion Mid-South Regional at Curran Conway Field in Little Rock.
Drew Tipton lined a one-out, bases-loaded double to the left-center field wall to give the Blacksox a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Tennessee state champions.
With the victory, Bryant (45-4) is assured of playing in Monday's regional finals. The Blacksox will play Jefferson City, Mo., in today's 6 p.m. game, which is scheduled to return to Vince DeSalvo Stadium in North Little Rock after rain forced the tournament to move to Little Rock on Friday and Saturday.
Bryant overcame a gallant effort by Columbia's 6-1 right-handed pitcher Jake Usher, who had limited the Blacksox to eight hits through the first eight innings.
Columbia (41-10), which will play Retif Oil of New Orleans in a 2 p.m. elimination game today, led 5-3 heading into Bryant's final at-bat. Usher, who wound up throwing 139 pitches, got Brandon Warner to ground out to start the ninth, but it was the last out he got.
Pinch hitter Evan Lee drew a walk and Trey Breeding followed with a single. Korey Thompson laid down an bunt for an infield single to load the bases. Trevor Ezell, who was hitless in his four previous at-bats, was hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count. Columbia Manager Scott Beasley argued that the pitch was fouled off, but after an umpire's conference, Ezell was awarded first and Columbia's lead was cut to 5-4.
Two pitches later, Tipton drove a 1-1 offering to the wall, scoring both pinch runner Austin Caldwell and Thompson.
Justin Emmerling, who entered the game in top of the fifth inning, picked up the victory. Emmerling struck out five, walked one and gave up no runs. He retired the final 12 batters he faced.
Harrison Dale started for the Blacksox, gave up 4 hits and 5 runs, 3 of them earned. He struck out two, walked three and hit a batter.
Usher finished with six strikeouts, while walking two and hitting a batter.
Taking advantage of three walks, a hit batter, a passed ball and two Bryant errors, Columbia scored all five of its runs in the first four innings.
The Blacksox took a 2-1 lead in the second inning on three hits. Hayden Lessenberry, who was 2 for 3, opened the inning with a double and scored on Warner's one-out single. With two outs, Breeding doubled home Warner.
But Bryant's lead lasted for only a few minutes. Columbia lead-off batter Alex McKelvy, who scored three runs, led off with a walk. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Bair Carter's ground out. Usher, who was hit by a pitch, scored on Peyton Sockwell's single for a 3-2 Columbia lead.
Two errors in the fourth inning led to two more Columbia runs.
The Blacksox cut Columbia's advantage to 5-3 on Dalton Holt's two-out single in the fourth.
Tipton was 2 for 5 for the Blacksox. Breeding and Thompson were both 2 for 4.
Tennessee;102 200 000 -- 5 5 0
Bryant;020 100 003 -- 6 11 3
Usher and Norwood. Dale, Emmerling (5) and Lessenberry. W -- Emmerling. L -- Usher.
LOUISIANA 7, MISSISSIPPI 1
Mason Mayfield tossed a complete-game six-hitter to keep Retif Oil of New Orleans alive and eliminate the Tupelo (Miss.) 49ers.
Nick Ray, Dan Edmund, Trent Forshag and Brandon Briuglio all collected two hits for the Louisiana state champions, who wound up with 10 for the game.
Mayfield worked around six walks.
Louisiana;030 000 202 -- 7 10 0
Mississippi;000 001 000 -- 1 6 1
Mayfield and Forshag. Robinson, Wiggington (7), Garrett (9) and Williams. W -- Mayfield. L -- Robinson.
MISSOURI 9, OKLAHOMA 3
Hayden Strobel went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI as Jefferson City (Mo.) eliminated Midwest City, Okla.
Winning pitcher Todd Buschjost fell behind 2-0 when Justin McGregor slugged a home run in the third inning, but his teammates responded with four runs in both the third and fourth innings.
Logan Bax provided a two-run double for the winners.
Oklahoma;002 001 000 -- 3 9 0
Missouri;004 401 00x -- 9 8 1
Pierce, Smith (4), Olds (5), Zangari (7) and Rolette. Buschjost, Vogel (7) and Bax. W -- Buschjost. L -- Pierce. HR -- McGregor (Oklahoma).
Sports on 08/10/2014