By Devin Hasson

McKINNEY--The Texas Nationals Team (ranked # 8 by TBS) had rolled through the field during three days of action at the 2009 Elite Travel Classic Texas Regional.
All of that dominating play appeared ready to go to waste, however, as TNT trailed by a run and was down to its final three outs against the McKinney Marshals (TBS Honorable Mention Team).

But where the Texas Nationals had steamrolled much of their opposition in the early innings, they proved they could turn it on late, as well, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull out a 5-4 victory amid windy conditions in the 10U Texas Regional championship game on Sunday at Craig’s Ranch in McKinney.

“We’ve been on the other side of that with a couple of one-run losses, so to come back like that, especially with the weather the way it is, that is a real good sign that we kept fighting and found a way,” Texas Nationals head coach Pat Primavera said.
The Texas Nationals, the No. 8 team in the travelballselect.com 10-and-under national poll and the top seed through pool play, got just the opening they needed to start the bottom of the sixth when James Primavera drew a leadoff walk. He stole second base to move into scoring position and came around to knot the score at 4-4 on a RBI single by Josh Lamb. With Lamb on second, Evan Samoff laid down a sacrifice bunt. The throw to first got away, however, allowing Lamb to streak home with the winning run.
“We figured if we could get a base runner to second, we would go for the bunt to get him to third … we were thinking about the tie, but it worked out we got the win,” Primavera said. “With the weather like it was, we were forced to play small ball and we were able to do that.”

It was a tough loss for the Marshals, who had earned the second seed after Friday and Saturday’s pool play. The Marshals had battled back from an early 2-0 deficit with a three-run rally in the top of the third inning. Collin Reiter led off with a single, stole second and scored on a base hit by Gray Rogers. Dylan Ditzenberger followed with a single and Jonathan Hobart reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Samoff, who pitched four innings for TNT, got the next two outs and was close to escaping the jam, but on a ground ball to short, the throw to first got away, allowing Rogers and Ditzenberger to score to take a 3-2 lead.

The Nationals tied the game in the bottom of the frame, as Terrence Spurlin singled to right, moved to second and eventually scored on a double steal.
The Marshals struck right back, as Chandler Grigsby reached on an error, stole both second and third and was plated on a ground out by Aaron Salazar to make it 4-3 in the top of the fourth. Marshals starter Reed Hoelscher, with the help of some strong defense behind him, was able to preserve that lead until the sixth, when the Nationals were able to break through and string together the game-winning rally.

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