By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
Behind 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, Washington’s Justin Meekins was down to his final strike before he sent a Will James pitch dancing down the right foul line that stayed fair long enough to allow the game-tying and winning runs to score for the Pam Pack.
Meekins’ game-winning hit, the first of his varsity career, handed Washington a 3-2 victory over D.H. Conley on Wednesday at Futrell Field, and also gave the Pam Pack (4-1) its fourth win of the season. One more than it had all of last year.
The rally was started when senior Austin Thompson smoked a double down to right-center field to lead off the inning. After a David Tyson strike out Gator Moore poked a single to left, putting the winning run on base for Gil Broadway. The Pack first baseman struck out looking at a nasty Davis pitch, setting up Meekins for his two-out, game-winning single.
Thompson said the victory was a big confidence builder for the team.
Tyson, the game’s winning pitcher, said that the team has made big strides since last season.
Washington struck first, taking an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Tyson drove home Jake Duke with a sac-fly to right field.
The game stayed 1-0 for three more innings, as Tyson and his counterpart Davis, were locked in a pitcher’s duel.
Tyson pitched all seven innings for the Pack to get the win, and while he wasn’t over-powering, he was very effective. The senior had no strikeouts, but he scattered five hits and let up zero earned runs.
Davis was equally impressive, and at one point retired 14 straight Pam Pack batters.
The Vikings evened the score up in the top of the fourth. With runners on first and third, Tyson faked a pick off throw to third, then wheeled around to first and caught Trevor Spencer in between first and second.
Spencer got trapped in a run down, but when Washington failed to execute it, Hayes Askew scored from third to tie the game at 1-1.
Washington’s defense betrayed Tyson again in the top of the sixth, as the Pack had a tough time with a Spencer grounder to second, which allowed Dillon Ross to score the Vikings’ second run.
Despite being scoreless for six straight innings the Pack never quit, and after Thompson led off the seventh with a double, Washington would not be denied.
The Pam Pack will be back on the diamond Friday when it hosts South Central.
D.H. Conley 000 101 0 — 2 5 1
Washington 100 000 2 — 3 5 3
WP: David Tyson; LP: Will James
Hitting: D — Jordan Deloatch 2-3, Dillon Ross 3-3; W — Austin Thompson 2-3 (R, 2B), Gator Moore 1-3 (R), Gil Broadway 1-3, Justin Meekins 1-3 2 RBI).