Heartland National wins thriller

In Dixie Youth Minors (9-10) action Thursday, Heartland National Bank defeated Sun 'n Lake Golf Club 8-7 in a last-minute comeback at Max Long Recreational Complex.

In the top of the first inning, Sun 'n Lake came out of the gates hard, putting two runs quickly on the board with Logan Gregis and Carson Angell scoring. Gregis scored after hitting a double and Angell scored after drawing a walk.

Emily Bible stepped up to the plate for Heartland National in the bottom of the first and drew a walk. She stole second on a passed ball and then stole third. Josh Rivera stepped up and hit a sacrifice grounder to the pitcher to score Bible. The inning ended with Sun 'n Lake ahead 2-1.

Hunter Jimenez drew a walk for Sun 'n Lake. Then Brooke Turner hit a double to right-center field and moved Jimenez to third. Gregis then hit a hard shot to score both runners, stretching their lead to three.

Heartland National tried to get something started, with Jimmy Ray Parks drawing a walk and stealing his way around to third, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Sun 'n Lake held Heartland Nation to no runs.

Sun 'n Lake started off the third inning with Wade Gilbert drawing a walk. Gilbert then stole second and third on consecutive passed balls. AJ then hit a single but then an overthrow to first made him start his way to second. AJ then was caught in a pickle, and while this was happening, Gilbert came in to score. This made the score 5-1, with Sun 'n Lake ahead

In the bottom of the third, Heartland National was again stopped from scoring.

Xander Respress reached first for Sun 'n Lake in the top of the fourth after an infield single, and moved AJ to second for Sun 'n Lake. Both came in to score to put Sun 'n Lake at 7-1.

Jalen Wheelock drew a walk for Heartland National and stole second on an overthrow. Wheelock then stole third on a passed ball. Eric Thompson drew a walk, but got caught in a pickle and was tagged out at third, allowing Wheelock to score.

Parks then drew a walk and stole three consecutive bases after passed balls, making the score 7-3.

Heartland National Bank held Sun 'n Lake to no runs in the top of the fifth to set up a comeback.

The bottom of the fifth inning was the last chance Heartland National had to come back as the two-hour time limit was about to expire.

Justin Strickland started the inning off drawing a walk and advanced to second on a grounder by Randy Gonzalez. On an RBI single, Langier hit a hard shot up the middle to score Strickland. Norris Taylor hit an RBI single as well, scoring Gonzalez.

Josh Rivera hit a three-run, inside-the park home run to score Langier and Taylor. This was enough to put Heartland National at 8 runs. With the two-hour time limit running out, the game ended 8-7, with Heartland National winning after an amazing comeback.