The Yankees were down to their last out in the top of the sixth inning, needing two runs to tie and three to go ahead.
No problem.
The Yankees scored four times after two out to overtake the Orioles 7-5 in the championship game of the Carson City Little League Major Division tournament Thursday night.
"It was a great game," Yankees coach Cris Holton said. "We had to ein three games to get here. Nobody expected us to be there. We were the underdog all the way. The kids stepped up and played as a team. I'm proud of them."
The Yankees took advantage of a pitching change by the Orioles, who lifted Brandon Davidson after he yielded a two-out triple to Reagan Foster. Eugene Mills came on for Davidson, and that's when the Yankees started to rally.
"That was a huge factor," Holton said of the pitching change. "We faced him (Davidson) twice in the regular season and he smoked us. We had four hits in 12 innings. That's why we were bunting a lot. We were trying to get his pitch count."
Mills came in with a 5-3 lead and walked Ramiro Bonds and Skyler Silva to load the bases. Josiah Pongasi was hit by a pitching to force in a run and make it 5-4. Jayden DeJoseph walked to force in another run, tying the game at 5. John Holton put the Yankees ahead to stay with a two-run single. Mills retired the next hitter to end the inning.
Foster, who had allowed a run and three hits in relief of Holton, retired seven of the last nine hitters he faced. The Orioles put runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh, but Foster struck out clean-up hitter K.C. Meyer to end the game.
"Reagan pitched great and John did a really good job," the elder Holton said.
The Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the first, using three walks, an error and a single by Mills to grab an early lead.
The Yankees scored three in the second on just one hit, a double by Pongasi. The Orioles' shorstop went to third on an errant relay throw and then scored when the Orioles failed to call timeout when Davidson secured control of the ball.
The Orioles fought back to score four times in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead, two coming on a single by Shan Andrews and the third coming on a single by Meyer.
That set the stage for the fateful sixth and the Yankees' big rally.