Tygarts Valley advances in state tourney
HUTTONSVILLE — The Tygarts Valley All-Stars won for the first time to advance in the 2017 12-year-old Little League state tournament Monday.
Tygarts Valley defeated Sophia 5-4 with a walk-off RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“It was a great game,” said Tygarts Valley manager Davie Tackett. “We were up 4-0, and then they came back to make it 4-2, then had a nice hit to drive in a run on us and take it to 4-3.”
The top of the sixth inning is when things got dramatic Monday evening.
“Sophia hit a home run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the ballgame, 4-4,” Tackett said. “Then we came up in the bottom of the sixth and Riley Tackett hit the ball to the fence and drove in the winning run. Garrett Gibson came across the plate for us and that was the end of the game.”
Brandon Mahoney was the starting pitcher for Tygarts Valley and threw three innings, and Nick Currence finished the game on the mound for the team.
Tygarts Valley will advance to play Madison today at 1;30 p.m.
Ironically, Madison also won the right to move forward by winning their game Monday by the score of 5-4 on a walk-off RBI, eliminating Shady Spring from the double elimination state tournament.
Tygarts Valley’s game was scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. but the team didn’t take the field until 7:20 p.m., after the Madison/Shady Spring contest ended.
Almost as soon as the Tygarts Valley players began to warm up, however, tournament officials called for tarps to be placed on the field as a rain storm passed through Huttonsville. The Tygarts Valley/Sophia game didn’t conclude until about 10 p.m.
“It was a big win for us,” Davie Tackett said. “We’re pretty pumped up.”
Tygarts Valley fell in its first tournament game Sunday, losing 12-2 to Grant County.
The Tygarts Valley squad includes Garrett Gibson, Charlie Brown, Elliott Smith, Nick Currence, Riley Tackett, Matthew Pratt, Noah Armstrong, Brandon Mahoney, Seth Currence, Derrick Gear, Eli Smith, Ezra Scott and Trenton Shreve, along with Tackett and coaches Jackie Mahoney and Rod Gibson.