Richland falls in heartbreaker

Published on Saturday, July 11, 2009 5:02 PM MDT

To say that Richland County’s game against Big Muddy Thursday afternoon in the Eastern Montana State 10 and under baseball tournament was close would be a gross understatement. Richland came up just short in a well-played 5-4 ball game.

Richland jumped out to an early lead in a back-and-forth affair. Trace Jones, who reached on a walk, used good base running to advance to third. Jones scored on a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Brett Norby to give his team a 1-0 lead. Garrett Basta flared a single into center, but Richland was unable to score.

Big Muddy tied the game up at one in the bottom of the first by scoring off of a wild pitch. Big Muddy was able to get good offensive production in the second. The squad used three walks and a single to score two runs early in the inning.

Richland reliever Paxton Miller was able to ease the pain and retire Big Muddy to give his team a chance to make a comeback.

Richland responded in a hurry. Adam Wentz and Jones started the inning with consecutive hits to get the All-Stars going. Casey Watson and Norby drove in Wentz and Jones with a pair of ground-outs to tie the game up at three in the top of the third.

Miller shut down Big Muddy in the third and Richland got to the bats in the top of the fourth. Parker Dean advanced to second after a throwing error. Dean scored when Miller grounded out to give Richland a 4-3 advantage.

Big Muddy couldn’t respond in the fourth, and Richland was unable to get anything going in the top of the fifth with the game still standing at 4-3 in favor of Richland.

Big Muddy got the bats going in the fifth. After a lead-off single and a walk, a Big Muddy batter drove a double to left to give his team a 5-4 lead going into the sixth and final inning.

The Richland All-Stars showed no quit in the sixth. Garrett Basta and Dawson McGlothlin each hit the ball hard, but Big Muddy defenders made nice plays to give Richland two outs. Dean drove a double to right to keep the game alive. Dean stole third to get Richland one base away from the tie.

Miller hit a hard grounder to short and hustled down the line, but the throw was just in time to give Big Muddy the tight 5-4 victory.

Miller was tagged with the loss, while Norby led Richland with two runs batted in.

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