Howard produces in the clutch for streaking Rosewood

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 18, 2017 9:22 AM

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WILSON -- Sometimes a "Chance" pays off.

It certainly did for Rosewood at Gilbert Ferrell Field during day two of the fourth annual Golden Leaf Invitational on Monday afternoon.

With two outs on the board, the bags juiced and the Eagles down 9-7 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Chance Howard just wanted a pitch he could drive somewhere into the outfield.

"I wanted to extend the inning," Howard said.

He did.

Howard lofted a "Texas bleeder" into shallow center field that Southern Nash's shortstop lost in the sunlight. The ball dropped untouched between three white-shirted jerseys.

Three Eagles -- Tucker Chapin, Logan Price and Will Albert -- spread their wings and soared home. Albert slid over the plate as a high throw from the infield sailed into the backstop netting.

Eagles 10, Firebirds 9.

"I didn't see it fall," a mystified Howard said. "I got to second and said, 'what happened?' I asked the guy at second and he said, 'I don't know.' The baseball Gods were on our side today.

"(It was) a game of breaks for sure and that was definitely one that we needed."

Howard took over the mound duties in the seventh and earned the save in relief of Tanner Bradley, who picked up the win. Peacock received a no-decision.

Rosewood (14-2 overall) extended its win streak to 12 and improved to 3-0 in games decided by one run this season.

"Matter of survival," Eagles head coach Jason King said.

Indeed.

Walks, errors, wild pitches -- all uncharacteristic miscues by the Eagles -- contributed to the early deficit. Southern Nash led 4-0 after 1 1/2 innings.

Misfortune befell the Firebirds (12-7) in the bottom of the second inning. Rosewood plated six runs on three walks, three wild pitches and three hits -- including a two-RBI single by catcher Derek Neal.

"I'm real proud of them for holding their feet to the fire," King said. "They could have dropped their heads easy early in the game. We had some ugly things happen early in the game and we perservered through it.

"I'm proud of that."

The Firebirds tied the game at 6-6 in the third and twice held two-run leads before the Eagles' sixth-inning uprising.

"I told JP at the beginning of the game that this game is taking forever and that whoever is alive at the end of the game is going to win it," Howard said. "We put ourselves in an opportunity to win right there at the end and it worked out."

All the Eagles needed was a "Chance."