Wow.
Poteet 4
Forney 5
Poteet led 4-0 and it looked for a while like Forney couldn't stay on the field with them. 9 up 9 down for Forney and Poteet had opportunities for a big inning every inning for the first 4. Then in the bottom of the fourth, Forney scored 3 and Johnnie Riley hurt his arm and had to come out of the game. Forney added a 2-out RBI double (Dustin Ivy, I think) in the sixth to tie it, and a leadoff double (Tyler Jones) in the seventh. In comes Nowell, and he promptly got a K, and an F8 pretty deep to advance the runner to 3B. Then what? A passed ball to end it. Who'd've thunk that with Nowell and Files? Not me, but a tired arm probably caused Nowell's low FB to sink more than normal.
Being the home team definitely was Forney's advantage today. Why were they? Is that a coin flip thing?
Poteet is clearly a great team, and I agree with P1Tickethead that they have superb coaching and a great team concept (and not much in the way of superstars - just Nowell). I wouldn't have been surprised had they won it all this year, but today you have to give all the credit in the world to the Forney players and coaches. Poteet missed their chance to put the nail in the coffin (I think of Kobe Bryant against Utah last night), and Forney hung in there and kept it close, then got the big hits down the stretch. They should enjoy this huge rivalry win tonight, because Waco Midway is waiting, and very good (that's not a prediction, just a statement).
If anyone knows if Riley is okay or injured, please let us know. I don't know how many games he won this year, but it was probably quite a few, and he'll win a bunch next year.
Congratulations to both teams. That was a fun game to watch.
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