LUFKIN ENDS THE SEASON FOR THE WASHINGTON COUNTY MINOR BOYS WITH EXTRA INNING WIN

The finals of the Minor Boys Section One Tournament came down to Washington County and Lufkin in a winner-take-all game this past Friday night at Linda Anderson Park's Dallmeyer Field in Brenham.

WC battled back from an early deficit, but ultimately it was Lufkin escaping with a 9-8 victory in seven innings.

After both teams won their respective openers, Lufkin defeated Washington County 8-2 on Tuesday, June 30. With the loss, WC dropped into the loser's bracket, which made the task much tougher.

However, WC battled back to defeat College Station 7-6, and then they beat Lufkin 8-0 to force the championship finale.

Lufkin jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning off Washington County starting pitcher Django Moffit.

WC came back with a two-run single by Tanner Schroeder to cut the Lufkin lead in half, 4-2.

After a tough first inning, Moffitt settled in and kept his team in the ballgame for the next three innings. Lufkin added a run in the top of the third to make it 5-2.

WC got the run back in the bottom of the third inning on a bases loaded walk to Graham Wilke, which made it 5-3.

Wilke later came through with the biggest hit of the night for Washington County in the bottom of the fifth inning. With Lufkin leading 7-4, and the bases loaded, Wilke smashed a three-run double to tie the game at 7-7.

After neither team scored in the sixth inning, they went into extra innings. For extra innings, each team starts with a runner at second base. The runner is whoever made the last out in the previous inning.

Lufkin scored a pair of unearned runs off of reliever Case Knesek to take a 9-7 lead.

Washington County had a chance in the bottom of the inning. Bo Mangan was the runner at second. He moved to third on a groundout and he then scored on a second groundout to make it 9-8. However, Lufkin got the final out on a strikeout to secure the win,

Lufkin now moves on to State Little League Tournament, which starts on Saturday in Pearland.

WC finishes their Little League run with an overall 9-2 and record. They were undefeated 6-0 District 13 Champions, and 3-2 Section 1 runners-up.