RED OAK — For the second time in as many games, the Northern Nash baseball team needed a hero.
This time, it was Peyton Clay who donned the cape.
Clay’s one-out single through the right side brought home Landon Keefe with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Knights defeated Nash Central 10-9 in the Big East 2A/3A Conference Tournament championship game.
Northern Nash, the No. 2 seed, improved to 15-7 overall while Nash Central, the fourth seed who knocked off No. 5 Franklinton and then No. 1 seed Bunn with consecutive 3-0 shutouts to reach the championship, dropped to 13-12.
The Bulldogs trailed 6-1 after the first inning but they scrapped back, chipping away at the deficit with single runs in the second and third innings and adding two runs in the fourth, fifth and six frames to take a 9-8 lead.
An infield single from Clay with runners on second and third brought home Ben Edgerton with the tying run, making it 9-9. The Knights had the chance to regain the lead when Chason Boseman walked to load the bases, but NC reliever Shea Whitley, who held the Knights in check after the first inning, coaxed a fielder’s choice to end the sixth.
Nash Central had a golden chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh when Landyn Holt walked with one out, but he was caught stealing as Clay fired to Brady Jenkins for the second out. Whitley then singled but a fielder’s choice ended the inning.
The Bulldogs missed another chance in the top of the eighth. Landon Dillane led off with a single to center. In an attempt to move Tanner Moss (Dillane’s courtesy runner) over, Braxton Sykes’ bunt was popped up and caught by Clay for the first out. NN reliever Logan Denton then got a strikeout and groundout to thwart the rally.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, NN assistant coach Marcus Kornegay asked which player would walk it off, and Clay answered him.
Keefe led off and was hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count. He moved to second on a groundout to shortstop from Dominick Robbins.
The first out may have seemed insignificant at the time, but Keefe was off and running on the play, and when Robbins made contact, Nash Central only had a throw to first.
Two pitches later, Clay smacked a hard grounder between first and second and Keefe raced home with the game-winner and the championship.
“Heck yeah,” Clay said when asked about making good on his promise. “I keep my word.”
Nash Central scored first in the top of the first inning when consecutive errors off a shallow fly ball to right field allowed Colby Lewis (single) to cross the plate.
Northern Nash responded by sending 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first and coming up with three hits (an infield single from Jenkins, a two-run single from Denton and a two-run double from Edgerton), three walks (Clay, Boseman and Marquis Nicholson) and a hit batter (Robbins) to take a 6-1 advantage.
But Nash Central did not go away. Instead, Whitley had a solid relief stint and held the Knights scoreless for three straight innings by retiring nine of 10 batters, and the Bulldog bats started to wake up.
In the second, a double by Camden Posey, a sacrifice bunt from Tyler Bowen and a sacrifice fly by Winston Lee made it 6-2. In the third, a one-out single from Whitley, a walk and a clutch double to left center by Dillane made it 6-3.
In the top of the fourth stanza, a walk to Bowen and consecutive singles from Lee, Jon Ayden Horne and Holt brought in Bowen and Lee to pull the visitors within a run (6-5).
Whitley gave up a one-out single to Keefe but Keefe was left stranded at second following a flyout and groundout.
Nash Central then took a 7-6 lead with two runs in the top of the fifth on singles from Dillane and Bowen, walks to Posey and Horne and a pair of wild pitches.
Northern Nash came right back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on consecutive one-out singles by Boseman, Nicholson and Denton to regain the lead, 8-7.
The Bulldogs then had the answer in the top of the sixth inning by scoring the tying and go-ahead runs on singles from Lewis and Dillane, a walk to Posey and two-run double from Bowen to make it 9-8.
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