Tristan Hawkins pitches for the Dodgers during the city championship game on Friday night.
The Red Sox struck for seven runs in their final two at-bats to wipe out an 8-2 deficit and beat the Dodgers, 9-8, to win the Carson City Little League Major Division championship Friday night at Governors Field.
Both the Red Sox and Dodgers had pulled off upsets in the semifinals to reach the championship game.
Trailing 8-7 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Red Sox rally started when Hayden White reached on an error. Justin McCraw was intentionally walked and Jesse Freeman drove in the tying run with a single to left field, scoring White.
With runners at second and third, Sergio Villanueva was walked intentionally to load the bases and set up a force play. Dylan Cooley walked on a 3-1 pitch to force home the game-winning run.
“The boys fought hard all year, tonight the hard work paid off. Great kids, with lots of leadership. They played as a team,” said Robert Glenn, Red Sox manager.
The Dodgers dominated early, scoring twice in the first thanks to two Red Sox errors on the same play. The Dodgers added another in the second when Robert Meinen walked and came around to score on a wild pitch and throwing error.
A one-out single by Yaki Glenn started the Red Sox rally in the bottom of the third. White blooped a single to right. A wild throw from the outfield enabled both Glenn and White to score to make it 3-2.
The Dodgers tacked on another run in the third when Tristan Hawkins doubled and scored on a single by Jordan Tabaracci. The Dodgers lost a chance for a bigger inning when Eid Abdelhady was tagged out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch.
A two-run triple by Tabaracci and a run-scoring single by Hawkins keyed a four-run barrage and stretched the Dodgers’ lead to 8-2 after four.
That is when the game took a decided twist in the favor of the Red Sox, who scored five in the fifth to trim the Dodgers’ lead to 8-7.
Two walks, two errors, a passed ball on a third strike, a single by Villanueva and a double by Glenn keyed the barrage, and set the stage for the game-winning rally the next inning.