It came down to two games to decide the District 4A Baseball Tournament championship this weekend.
Between the Greenback Cherokees and Oakdale Eagles, the tournament title was hotly contested, but due to a an earlier loss in the double-elimination tourney, it ended up with Greenback winning.
The scores Friday and Saturday was 8-5 in Oakdale’s favor, forcing another game Saurday, this one in Greenback’s took, 9-5.
Friday’s game
The Cherokees scored five runs in the sixth inning, but Oakdale was able to hold on to take the win.
The Eagles were able to get some offense going in the first inning when they scored two runs.
Four runs scored by Oakdale in the sixth proved to be the difference maker.
Those came courtesy of a grand slam home run by Nehemiah Cooney.
The grand salami was enough to make it 7-5 after the conclusion of the sixth.
The Eagles scored once more, but the score proved to be daunting to the Cherokees and it was more than enough.
Along with Cooney’s prowess at the plate, he proved to be a force on the mound as the winning pitcher.
He only needed two innings to work, allowing no runs and no hits while fanning four batters.
Saturday’s game
The 4-1 contest Thursday evening that ended in a win for the Cherokees came back to haunt Oakdale Saturday afternoon.
Although the contest was a close one as were the previous two, the Eagle’s couldn’t get the extra oomph it needed.
A four-run fifth inning with a three-run sixth was more enough to seal the deal for Greenback in spite of the Eagle’s consistent scoring.
As runner-up in the district, Oakdale will travel, but it won’t go far. The Eagles will take on Coalfield today. The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
