It took nine innings, but third- seeded East Carter completed a comeback against No. 2 seed Naylor to reach the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament championship game with a 7-6 win at Roger Pattillo Field on Tuesday.
After being held scoreless for the first three innings, the Redbirds began to chip away at a 6-1 Naylor lead. In the seventh inning, the comeback was completed.
Tommy Baldridge emerged as Mr. Clutch for East Carter, knocking an RBI double into right-center to tie the game.
"It felt pretty good because early on in the game I had a few errors that gave up some runs, and so I just felt like it was my time to do something about it, try to get some runs on the board and get us back in the game," Baldridge said.
After a scoreless extra inning from both teams, Baldridge stepped up to the plate one more time. He roped a double into right field, driving across the winning runs and giving East Carter (17-5) its first lead of the game at the perfect time.
"Tommy played a good ball game," East Carter coach Scott Henfling said. "He struggled at first today. I almost took him out of the game. But then he comes through with two clutch hits. It was awesome."
With Naylor (11-4) down to its final three outs, Chance Smith stepped to the plate and earned a leadoff single.
But East Carter pitcher Dalton Rudd struck out Eli Roark and forced Chase Sarabia to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the night and begin a celebration for the Redbird dugout.
The game was a tail of four innings of consistency from Naylor and five from East Carter.
Naylor scored at least a run in each of the first four innings but was held scoreless over the last five.
"The nerves kind of settled in, I guess," Henfling said. "We made plays and our pitching came back around. We make our errors, but we always fight back and try to make up for it."
Back-to-back four-run innings in the fifth and sixth for the Redbirds set up the tying run from Jordan Douglas in the seventh.
Wyatt Elliott started things off in the fifth with a liner to right field.Cody Hampton raised him a double to put runners at second and third with no one out. Alex Kearbey drove in Elliott with a sacrifice fly.
A triple that met the fence in right field came from Douglas sent Hampton home to finish the scoring in the fifth.
Naylor was dealt some controversy in the sixth inning. It looked like center fielder Cody Jones had earned a triple after a hit to right field snuck inside the foul line and reached the fence, but the home plate umpire ruled he never touched first base, allowing East Carter to tag the base and force him out.
It was that kind of day for the Eagles, a day that shocked head coach James Bond.
"I don't know. I just, I don't know. I was speechless," Bond said. "I really don't know what happened. Up 6-1, I don't ever expect us to lose a game like that."
Rudd came up big on the mound for East Carter. He pitched the final three innings and allowed just one hit.
Baldridge's two doubles were his only hits on the day. He also reached base after being hit by a pitch, and he reached on a fielder's choice. Douglas had a good eye throughout the day, drawing three walks to go along with his triple.
East Carter will face top-seeded and undefeated Clearwater at 4 p.m. Thursday at Three Rivers for the tournament championship.