By Brad Greer

Perhaps the hardest out to get in the game of baseball is the last one. Just ask North Delta.

Trailing 4-2  with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Bayou Academy catcher Trey Wells hit a routine ground ball that North Delta third baseman Gerri Lamm has made time and time again throughout season. But Lamm, who could have easily stepped on third base for the force out, short-hopped Michael Magee at first that allowed the tying runs to score.

One inning later,  the Colts Spence Abraham scored the game-winning run with yet again two outs on Green Wave second baseman Bailey Gurkert’s throwing error that gave Bayou a thrilling 5-4 win for the North A State Championship Saturday afternoon in Canton.

The decisive last game of the best-of-three series was moved  to Canton after a heavy round of thunderstorms hit the Batesville area Saturday morning.

The Green Wave had one last gasp in the bottom of the eighth but just as they have done all season, would not go down without a fight. With one out, both Hunter West and Gurkert were hit by a pitch. Following Austin Gant’s popup for the second out, Magee drew a walk on a full count to put the tying run 90 feet away. Jim Tom Copeland then stepped to the plate and worked the count full off Bayou pitcher Austin Payne but popped to third base for the final out.

Both teams combined for seven errors in the game as Bayou made five while the Green Wave accounted for two.

North Delta, (16-8), took a  3-2  lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Magee scored on a dropped flyball by Colt center fielder Joel Kovaricik that came off the bat of Bateman Greenlee. Magee’s two-out RBI single  scored West from second to give the Green Wave a 4-2 lead in the sixth.

Both Copeland and Payne engaged in a pitchers’ duel the entire game as both hurlers went the distance. Payne gave up one unearned run on three hits while striking out 10 and walking six. Copeland matched his sophomore counterpart with five runs (two earned), 10 strikeouts and two walks.

Bayou, (22-4) took a 1-0 lead in the first as Payne slapped a one-out single then scored on a highly disputed call at home plate after a John Mangialardi double. Winn Roark followed with a RBI single to score Mangialardi.

North Delta got on the board in the third as Gurkert drew a leadoff walk then later scored on a two-out error. The Green Wave stranded 10 runners on base during the game including runners on first and third in the fourth and sixth innings. Magee, Copeland and West registered singles for North Delta.

The Wave forced the deciding game three with a 13-8 win over Bayou Friday in Cleveland to even the series at one game each.

North Delta broke open a scoreless game with an eight-run fifth inning that included a home run by Ethan Taylor and a pair of doubles off the bat of John Cody Dalrymple and Lamm. The Colts responded with five runs in the bottom of the frame to close the gap to 8-5.

The Green Wave then put the game away in the seventh by scoring four runs. Singles by Copeland and Greenlee, along with a double by Taylor, highlighted the inning.