Twin City Bombers (LA) rise up in dramatic moment to win 12uD1 Texas Season Opener

by Cody Thorn

GRAPEVINE, TX — Aulds Garvin wasn’t worried about the clock on the right-field scoreboard. However, the game went from minutes left to seconds left when the left-handed hitter from the Twin City Bombers delivered the key hit.

In the championship game of the 12uD1 Omaha Bracket, Gravin laced a hit down the left field line and that brought home the tying and winning run. That gave the West Monroe, La., team a 7-5 win over 5 Star Performance DFW Ingram on Sunday at Oak Grove Baseball Complex.

By the time, Garvin crossed first base and turned toward second base, he threw his arms out in celebration. It was only his second-ever walk-off hit.

The clock read 25 seconds remaining in the championship game. 

“Sometimes you can’t watch the clock,” Garvin said. “It was really teamwork. Our coach gave us a speech at end of the top of the sixth (inning) and he said get to the tying run to the plate and anything can happen.”

The victory gives the top-seeded Bombers a chance to go to Omaha later this season to play in Slumpbuster Tournament – which runs at the same time as the Division I College World Series. 
To have a chance to win the title, the Louisianans had to overcome a four-run deficit coming to bat with only three outs left.
 
The first three batters reached safely in the bottom of the sixth. In between hit batsmen, the second and third batters of the frame, the DFW team changed pitchers. Levi DeMoss hit a sac fly to center field to make it 6-3.

Up next was Abram Bennett, who hit a single to score two, making it 6-5. The left-handed hitters single up the middle put runners on first and second.
 
Garvin stepped to the plate with two minutes left on the clock. The Bombers pulled off a double steal but that left less than a minute on the scoreboard. DeMoss took third base, where the throw went toward.

“We knew it was a crunch time and this was it,” Bombers coach Jarred Frost said. “Our coaches do a great job of talking and conversing and knowing what we have and what we have to execute. They do a great job of knowing the game and knowing where we’re at in the game.

"We knew we had to make something happen and our third base coach said we got to make something happen and let’s do it. We executed it well. Our kids trusted us, that is the big part.”
5 Star Performance DFW twice held 4-run leads in the title game. After a scoreless first three innings, the local team went up 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning.

Three walks loaded the bases and set up a two-run single by Mackinnon Minota. Brody Needham added a sac fly to make it 3-0 and Anthony Hernandez’s single through the left side of the infield pushed the fourth run across.

Twin City added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Hudson Spillers had an inside-the-park home run for the first run and Gulds’ first RBI, on a single, made it 4-2 in the fifth.
 
5 Star Performance tacked on what was then insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning on a two-run single from Hernandez.

DeMoss threw three innings of relief to pick up the win for Twin City, fanning four. Aulds went three innings and didn’t get up a hit but was tagged for three earned runs as the starter for the Bombers.

LAST WORD – Frost on the Texas Season Opener: “We came here to compete. We had no expectations to be here on championship Sunday in the championship bracket in the championship game. We do know we are good enough to be in the game and in this bracket. But being here (in Dallas) was a blessing for us, I can tell you that. Getting to go Omaha will be a big discussion now. Being in Omaha is a dream for everybody.”