Red Level tops Pleasant Home 5-4 in movie-like ending

Lights.

Camera.

Action.

Red Level scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a game that couldn’t have been written better for a movie as the Tigers topped Pleasant Home 5-4 in Class 1A, Area 3 action at the Hammett-Holley Sports Complex.

In the next-to-last act, the Eagles scored on a “perfectly executed” squeeze play to go up 4-3 to force the Tigers to score two runs for the win.

RLS baseball coach Tony Ingram said after the game that he couldn’t describe how great of a game it was.

“It was a heck-of-a ball game pitched by two good high school pitchers,” Ingram said.

For RLS, the Tigers had Jerran Williams on the mound. For Pleasant Home, it was Garrett Barton.

Both teams went back and forth during the meat of the contest.

RLS went ahead 2-0 in the third inning, and then the Eagles tied it a short time later. The Tigers took the lead in the fourth and after PHS committed its squeeze play, the lead changed once again.

Ingram then laid out the script line by line.

Trailing by one run and needing two to win, Red Level led off the bottom of the seventh on a single by Dameyune “DD” Scott. The Tigers’ next batter flied out.

Hunter Carpenter then drew and walk and AJ Nicholson came in to pinch run for the second baseman to put runners at first and second with two outs.

Wesley Holley came in at some point to run for Scott.

With two outs, two on and a 2-and-2 count, Williams laces a fair ball down the first-base line to allow Holley to score easily.

Nicholson then came to third base and Ingram took a chance on a PHS throwing error, and sent AJ home who scored in an interesting fashion.

Ingram said Nicholson — who he thinks pulled something — half-ran, half-crawled home to score the game-winning run.

“It was pretty much down to our last strike,” Ingram said. “You couldn’t have put anybody better in that type of situation than Jerran.”

Ingram said Barton pitched well enough to win.

“My guy did, too,” he said. “It was a great game to watch.”

PHS coach Lamar Gibson said Barton did pitch a good game, but that the team didn’t finish.

“We just couldn’t get it done when we had the opportunity,” Gibson said. “That’s really about it.

“We made a couple errors there on that last inning, and they came back to bite us. We weren’t able to get it done.”

In junior varsity action, the Eagles won 12-4.

Red Level is back in action tomorrow at PHS for an area doubleheader. If the Tigers win the first game, then there won’t be a second.