Green Hope started Joe Pistacchio against Middle Creek's Nick Schavonne, with the Falcons needing a win a little bit more than the Mustangs. But Middle Creek took an quick lead in the 1st, as a leadoff single, stolen base, ground out, and another single, scored a run, Middle Creek up 1-0 after 1 inning.

Pistacchio (left) pitched well, helped as Colantino throws out Ben Brown (right) trying to steal, Grudee with the tag

But Pistacchio settled in after that, striking out 2 batters each inning for the next 4 innings, while Green Hope took the lead in the third inning. Grant Shambley reached on a error, stole second, then a walk to Adam Boghosian, followed by a single by Pistacchio scored Shambley. Two walks to Zach Munz and Jonathan Grudee scored a second run, and a past ball allowed a third run to score, Green Hope up 3-1 after 3 innings.

Drayton's single scores 2, Umps (right) rule that player interference allowed him 3rd as the ball got past Colantino (left)

Williams (right) doubles over Yoder's head (left) to score a runner giving Middle Creek a 5-3 lead in the 6th

But as Pistacchio got close to the century mark in pitches thrown, Middle Creek finally scored a run in the 5th inning, after 2 outs, three straight singles made it Green Hope ahead 3-2. Middle Creek took the lead in the top of the 6th, as the inning started with a catcher's interference, then a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to second, followed by a groundout moving the runner to 3rd with 2 outs. Then a walk, steal of second, and single to center scored 2 runs, followed by a double added a third run, and that was all for Pistacchio as Daniel Sondag came in to get the last out via a strikeout. Middle Creek up 5-3 in the 6th inning.

Sondag (left) comes into pitch, and Colantino (right) started Green Hope's 6th by beating out an infield grounder

The bottom of the 6th, saw Green Hope break the game open, scoring 10 runs, thanks to a key at bat which turned the whole momentum of the game around. After Colantino's infield hit and Shambley's single, Will Yoder tried to bunt the tying runners into scoring position, but fouled off his attempts. Yoder then watched 2 pitches just miss for strike three, much to the groans of the Middle Creek fans, and instead drilled the next pitch for a double to tie the game at 5-5. After that hit, it was open season on Middle Creen pitching, as Boghosian followed with a single, then Pistachhio singled scoring the go ahead run, an out was followed by a double by Grudee scoring another, Clark was intentionally walked to load the bases for Sondag who singled to score 2 more, Colantino walked, Shambley singled to score 2, Yoder singled again to score another, and finally after Boghosian's fly to center was dropped to score the tenth run of the inning, a 6-4-3 double play ended the inning. Green Hope up 13-5 after 6 innings.

Yoder can't get the bunt down (left), then takes two pitches which could have been called strike three (right)

But Yoder's double scores two to tie the game (left), and he fully realizes how big that at bat was (right)

Sondag (2-3) closed out the 7th inning to get the win, and Green Hope moves back above .500 for the season, 7-6 conference and 10-9 overall. Big game against Fuquay Varina, who are tied with Green Hope, tomorrow. Every conference seris Green Hope has played this year has been a sweep, lets hope that streak is broken as Fuquay won the previous meeting this year in a badly played game.

Pistacchio (left) who had singled to score the go ahead run acknowledges Grudee (right) who had just doubled