The Booneville Bearcats recorded seven sacrifices in Paris, including three in the 10th inning, and picked up a big, 9-6 Conference 3A-4 title clinching win.
With the score tied at 6-6, Parker Smith (2-fo-4) left off the third extra inning of the game with his second single. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Noah Harrel.
Having reached on a sacrifice with a throwing error in the eighth inning, Harrel had two of four sacrifice bunts by the Bearcats on the day.
With Smith at second, Conner Lentz struck out but when the Paris catcher delayed the throw to try to keep Smith at second, Lentz beat the throw and Smith took third anyway.
That brought up leadoff man Rhett Nietert who put down a perfect suicide squeeze on the first pitch he saw to push in the go ahead run.
Though the throw came home Smith scored easily and the Eagles complicated matters for themselves with a throwing error and Lentz scored all the way from first to make it 8-6 and Nietert reached second.
Nietert moved to third on a wild pitch and Dylan Todd put down another suicide squeeze on the next pitch to score Nietert and make it 9-6.
The RBI capped a day for Todd (shown taking a lead from second base) in which he was 4-for-5 at the plate.
Jace Washburn worked around a one out error in the bottom of the inning, his fourth in relief, to nail it down. Washburn (2-0) allowed just one hit and one walk over the final four innings.
He came on after the Bearcats scored two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 6-6.
In that inning Lentz (2-for-5) greeted the first Paris reliever with a single and Nietert was hit with a pitch. Todd beat out a bunt for a single to fill the bases and Dax Goff was hit by a pitch for the second time to force Lentz home and make it 6-5.
Rylen Ray was retired on a smash to third but Washburn drove in the tying run with one of three sacrifice flies and it was 6-6.
That took Goff off the hook. Goff had thrown the first six innings, allowing six runs, five earned, on seven hits and three walks. He struck out seven in the 109-pitch outing.
Paris scored first on a two-out error in the second inning but the Bearcats got that run back in the third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nietert.
The Eagles again went in front on a two out single in the bottom of the third and it stayed a 2-1 game until the sixth.
Then, Todd singled and Goff was hit by a pitch. Both moved up on a wild pitch and Ray plated a run with a fly ball to tie it. A single by Washburn gave the Bearcats a 3-2 lead and after Parker Smith singled, a balk resulted in another run and a 4-2 lead.
Paris then scored four of their own in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-4 lead. A throwing error after one out was recorded got two in, a single tied it, and a two out double gave Paris the lead.
The win, coupled with one by Charleston over Subiaco gave the Bearcats a two game lead with two to play and the possibility of only ending in a tie with a team they have beaten, thereby clinching the top seed in the district tournament in Danville next week, as well as a spot in the Class 3A Region 1 tournament the following week.
A win over either Cossatot River today or Subiaco tomorrow would make it an outright league title .
Today's game with Cossatot is also senior day.
BEARCATS SACRIFICE WAY TO CONFERENCE TITLE
