My son is a volunteer coach (student assistant) for PHCC - a JuCo he once played for. PHCC entered the NJCAA D2 Region X tournament as the #1 seed. They defeated New River 12-2 (5 innings) in game 1. A 6-1 loss to Wake Tech knocked them to the loser bracket. They rebounded with a win vs Southeast (Wythville). Next game was against last years regional champ, Catawba Valley. After spotting 4 runs to Catawba in the first inning, PHCC clawed back with 3 runs in the 7th to tie and then 2 more runs to earn a hard come-from-behind victory. This put them facing Wake Tech again who had lost to Brunswick. Again Wake Tech got out to a early lead, but PHCC fought back tying the game in the 8th. WT took the lead in the top of the 9th, but Patrick Henry wasn't done. PH tied the game on a sacrifice fly and then won the game on walk-off HR.
This put them in the championship game vs Brunswick (#2 seed) where they would have to win two to advance to the WS (was also told that if PH won game 1 and game 2 was rained out PH wold advance to the WS due to being the #1 seed). Brunswick got out to an early 8-0 lead (seems to be a habit for PH in this tournament). PH cut the deficit to 3 (8-5) by the 5th, but Brunswick's bats were too much for Patrick Henry's now depleted pitching staff. PH added a few more runs but just could not hold Brunswick back. Final score was 22-9.
This was PHCC's best season ever finishing 44-16 with 40 wins coming in the regular season.
Congrats to Brunswick. I wish them success in the NJCAA D2 WS.