Patriots storm back from early deficit to win Connie Mack state title
Trailing 6-0 in the top of the second inning Saturday, LV Patriots coach Garrett Kohler reminded his team that if it needed it, it would have a second chance to win the Connie Mack state tournament.
All the Patriots really needed was an opportunity to bat again.
The Patriots scored five runs in the bottom of the second and exploded for 10 more in the third on their way to a 16-6, five-inning win over the Summerlin Panthers in the title game at the College of Southern Nevada.
The Patriots, who went 4-0 in the double-elimination tournament, will compete in the Western Regional tournament, which begins Wednesday in Alameda, California.
"What I did was just remind the guys that (Summerlin) needed to sweep us, so we didn‘t need to play tight," said Patriots coach Garrett Kohler, whose team allowed only one run in its first three games of the tournament, including a 2-0 win over Summerlin on Thursday. "We still wanted to win that game. We‘ve been hitting. We know we can come back from 6-0."
Zack Reed got the final out of the top of the second and threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to give his teammates the chance to get back into the game.
"He went out there and did the job," Kohler said. "He just threw strikes. All of our pitchers have good stuff. If they go in there and throw strikes and we play defense, we can get out of any jam."
Nick Woolery‘s leadoff home run in the bottom of the second started the Patriots‘ uprising. Dante Glover added a two-run double, and a pair of bases-loaded walks brought the Patriots within 6-5.
And then the offense really got going.
Eleven of the first 12 Patriots to bat in the third inning reached base. The Patriots had five hits and took advantage of three walks, a hit batsman and four errors to score 10 runs in the third inning and take a 15-6 lead.
"We‘ve got guys who love to swing wood bats," Kohler said. "We just needed base runners. We got ahead in counts, and then we started driving the ball, which we know we can do."
Reed‘s RBI fielder‘s choice in the fourth inning pushed the lead to 16-6 and allowed the Patriots to win by the mercy rule.
Nick Rush was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs, and Woolery went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Patriots, who also stranded 10 runners in four innings.
Sam Powers was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Ryan Merino was 2-for-3 with two runs for the Panthers.
