MIDDLETOWN >> A team desperately in need of a win got it on Thursday afternoon after putting in a little overtime.
Gracie Armstrong’s infield single, a chopper up the third-base line, scored teammate Hannah Flynn with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Middletown Mustangs to a 4-3 win over the St. Helena Saints at Middletown.
It’s the second time this season the Mustangs and Saints have gone eight innings. St. Helena won the first meeting 10-9 on April 12 in St. Helena.
“Yeah, we needed this one,” Middletown coach Barry Glosser said of the victory, which snapped a four-game losing streak.
Middletown (2-8 league, 7-10 overall) threatened on several occasions early in the game only to come away with nothing.
“We couldn’t get it going in the beginning,” Glosser said. “We hit into a couple of line-drive double plays where the runner had no chance.”
St. Helena scored single runs in the first and fifth innings to go up 2-0. Middletown pushed in front 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, turning two hits, a walk and an error by the Saints into a three-run uprising. St. Helena came right back with a run in the top of the sixth to knot the score.
The Saints stranded runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Flynn led off with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball. After a walk to winning pitcher Olivia Glosser, Armstrong’s infield hit ended the game.
Aly Ferguson went 2-for-2 for the Mustangs, who finished with eight hits. Glosser, who went 1-for-3, worked all eight innings, allowed just five hits, struck out three and walked one.
The Mustangs hit the road Tuesday to play Willits.
In other action Thursday:
Baseball
Fort Bragg 8, Lower Lake 1
At Lower Lake, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves improved to 6-4 in the NCL I standings with a victory over the Lower Lake Trojans (0-11, 5-13).
Winning pitcher Kaylor Sullivan tossed a four-hitter, struck out six and walked two. Losing pitcher Sean McCarthy allowed six runs, three of which were earned, in 4 1/3 innings while striking out four and walking two.
Lower Lake broke up Sullivan’s shutout in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out walk, a double by Ethan Watson and a RBI single by Isaiah Klein.
McCarthy and J.T. Tinkler, promoted from the junior varsity team, had the only other Lower Lake hits against Sullivan.
Lower Lake hosts Clear Lake on Tuesday.
