NHC pulls off opening-round upset over Pioneer Pediatrics

There is a reason tournaments are referred to as a ‘second season’ for athletic leagues: Because anything can, and often does, happen.
In the boys’ 7- and 8-year-old coach-pitch league Tuesday night, NHC proved that old axiom, rallying to pull off the tourney’s first upset as they took a 20-14 victory over Pioneer Pediatrics.
Pioneer, which tied for first place in the regular season at 9-1, and stormed past NHC 16-2 during their meeting back in May, jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, and carried a 9-5 advantage into the third inning Tuesday night. But NHC’s bats came to life in the third with five runs, and they added five-spots in both the fourth and fifth innings to capture the victory and advance in the winners’ bracket of the league tourney.
Jacob Evans helped NHC’s cause with a 4-for-4 performance, while Cameron Leduc had a homer and finished with three hits, as did teammates Benjamin Clark, Brooks Helton, Peyton Martin and Matthew Roberts.
Pioneer got a four-hit game from Brandon Henessee, while Gavin Myers and Brandt Young had three hits each. Aaron Woodlee, Gavin McClure and Braxton Linder all recorded two-hit games.
In other tournament action from Tuesday night:
Pine Hill Plastics 17
Brewer Amusement 5
An early 10-0 lead helped Pine Hill advance, as did three hits each from Colton Smith, Sloan Seymour, Noah Fann and Blake Driver. Brewer got a pair of hits from Baylor Brewer, including a double.
A&K Termite 14
Gary Steele Karate 1
A&K’s Orioles scored seven runs in the second to take charge for good in its victory over Gary Steele. Chance Hobbs had three hits, including a double and a triple, while teammates Tyler Hollings-worth, Gaines Mayfield and Samuel Vandagriff also added three-hit games.
Shawn Bouldin, River Jones, Kailon McGill and Tyler Pomalus had a hit each for GSKS.
In league action from Saturday, games included:
Barr’s 22
Quality Mold 1
Keaton Bond, Joshua Duke, Cole Estes, James Greene, Alexander Jones, Jordan McMillen, Ben Vassar and Blake Waldron had two hits each, while Brent Williamson added three in Barr’s big win. Quality Mold got a hit each from Wesley Jennings, Timothy Hopkins, Andrew Abraham and Cameron Cochran.
Brewer Amusement 19
ABC Ice 15
Aaron Watts, Baylor Brewer, Garrett Driver and Zachary McAllister had three hits each for Brewer’s, while ABC was led by three-hit games from Payton Cook, Riley Majors and Wyatt Miller.
NHC 21
General Equipment 11
NHC’s Benjamin Clark, Blake Delong, Jacob Evans, Brooks Helton and Jalen Smith posted three hits each to lead their team to a first-round win, while Grant Chilcutt, Lane Jones, Taylor Madewell, Cameron Chase, Crockett Walker and Baylee West had two each for General Equipment.
Gary Steele Karate 13
Pioneer Bldg. Supply 12
GSKS held off a late comeback attempt to edge Pioneer Building Supply by a run, and was helped to its victory by a three-hit game from Gregory Norton and two hits from Alex Ware. Pioneer got three hits from Kaleb Smith, and two apiece by Zach Bennett, Thomas Judkins, Garrick McGee, Tyler Steele and Adrian Tejas.
Barr’s 17
Gary Steele Karate 6
Barr’s got three hits each from Keaton Bond and Alexander Jones as it closed its regular season on Saturday morning, while GSKS was led by two-hit games from River Jones, Lucas Scruggs and Calin Steele.
Pioneer Pediatrics 14
ABC Ice 6
Pioneer’s Braxton Linder had four hits, while Brandt Young, Gavin McClure and Brandon Hennessee pounded out three each in Pioneer’s win. ABC got three hits from Caleb Newby, including a double and a triple, while Jonathan Herron, Wyatt Miller and Parker Dixon had two each.
The league tournament is scheduled to resume July 8.