It ain’t over till it’s over!

Several times Quitman was facing elimination in the Class B playoffs on Tuesday, but when the dust finally settled after 9 thrilling innings, it was the homestanding Wolverines who lived to play another day, taking a gritty come-from-behind 6-5 victory over #12 Choudrant in the high school version of an Instant Classic.

Heroes were abound for the Wolverines on this day, but the one who stood tallest at the end was Kace West, who with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning scorched a ground ball into left field to score Hudson Pullig that kept the Wolverines, now 15-14 on the year, dream of back-to-back state titles alive and advance QHS into the quarterfinals where they await the winner of #4 Hicks and #13 Stanley. 

To get to the thrilling finish, the Wolverines had to rally from a 5-4 deficit in the bottom of the 8th inning, where after working the count to 3-2 with two outs, Tucker Newton “took one for the team” by getting hit by a pitch that scored H Ayres, who had come on as a pinch runner for Jake Potts who had singled to get the rally started. Cail King then slashed a single, leading up to Asher Shultz executing a perfect bunt that moved the runners to second and third base and Zach Smudricks drawing a walk to load the bases. 

It was the second time that Quitman scored a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score, the first being in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Wolverines almost won it in regulation. Newton once again played a big role in that rally by hitting a single with one out as did Connor Moak who followed with another base hit. That brought up Maddox Duck, and the team captain came through with a single to left that scored Newton and almost ended it but Moak was thrown out at the plate attempting to end the contest. 

It was a pair of Choudrant errors in the sixth inning that helped Quitman get to the point where one run would tie the game. With QHS behind 4-2 after committing two of the five errors the Wolverines had on the day, to give Choudrant three runs in the 5th inning, Duck singled and scored on an Aggie infield miscue on a ground ball hit by King. 

Before the Choudant rally, it was Quitman who helped change the lead for what ended up being six times in the back-and-forth contest when, after the Aggies struck first for a 1-0 King singled and both West and Duck drew walks to load the bases. Hudson Pullig then came through with a clutch two-out double, the only extra base hit the Wolverines had all day, to give QHS a 2-1 lead.