For the second straight time, Jackson Parish beat Sabine Parish by rallying late. This time, the 14-13 victory in seven innings kept JP8U alive in the Dixie Youth District 8 tournament being played in Tioga, LA, and sent Sabine home. 

Like the first time the two met in the first round of the tourney, a 15-14 JP8U victory this past Friday, where it was the JP8U offense that won the game in “walk-off” fashion, the locals rallied late. On Monday, though, it was the defense that took center stage in the final inning to leave the bases loaded and stem a determined Sabine rally, despite being bombarded by seven straight hits. 

Got to give both teams credit as more than once, JP8U or Sabine Parish fell behind only to come back to tie or take the lead, including in Jackson Parish’s last at bat in regulation where they entered trailing 10-6 only to score four runs to tie the score, with two of the runs coming after two outs. 

Kaden Blewer and Levi Norred got the rally started by hitting back-to-back doubles, followed by Matthew Buchan and Uriah Hall each slapping singles to narrow the deficit to 10-8. Down to their last out, Pistol McCurdy then hit the third “two-bagger” of the inning, and Rowen Sampey singled to tie the score. 

After Buchan got three outs on just five pitches in the bottom of the sixth to send the game into extra innings, JP8U put the game away by scoring again scoring four runs. D.J. Hudson and Kase Mathews opened the extra frame with singles before Blewer and Levi Norred smashed a double and a triple, respectively, with one out to put JP8U up 13-10. Hall then plated the final run with a two-out single. 

With their backs against the proverbial wall in the bottom of the seventh, Sabine got four straight hits with two out after getting two more on earlier in the inning to narrow the margin to 14-13. Buchan then knuckled down to coax a ground ball to first and send JP8U into a rematch with Jena, who bested the locals in the second round. 

It was the third time in the game that Sabine had been forced to rally from at least three runs down. The first was when JP8U went up 3-0 thanks to hits by Rafe Lewter, Hudson, Mathews, Smiley and Blewer. 

Jackson Parish upped the lead to 6-2 in the next frame when Buchan and Hall got singles that set up a Sampey triple, Lewter single and Hudson double, all coming with two outs. 

JP8U collected 24 hits in the game, led by Hudson with 4 and Blewer, Norred, and Hall all getting three “knocks” apiece. Sampey, Rafe Lewter, Mathews, and Buchan got two hits apiece, and Anderson Smiley, Emmett Thomas, and Pistol McCurdy got a base hit each. 

With the victory, JP8U advanced to play Jena Tuesday evening in a rematch of the 16-1 Jena victory on Saturday that put the locals in the elimination side of the bracket. The winner of that game will then play for the right to earn a shot at reaching the state tournament that will be played in Jefferson Parish on July 10-13.