Linglestown closes in on baseball title with epic win

Linglestown's Bryan Stovall (second from right) gets high fives after blasting a game-winning homer over the black wall

It sounds trite, but game four of the East Shore Twilight League championship playoff series was one of those games that no one deserved to lose.

The scoreboard showed a string of zeros Friday evening as Linglestown Twilight and Palmyra locked horns in a pitchers' duel for seven innings of regulation play and one extra inning at the In The Net sports complex in Palmyra.

Bryan Stovall

Finally, Linglestown catcher Bryan Stovall put our hometown team in the lead in the ninth inning with a towering home run off Palmyra's Ryan Dove that cleared the left-field wall with plenty to spare.

But, Palmyra wasn't about to give up the ship.

They stormed back against Pete Hayden, Linglestown's top pitcher, in the home half of the inning with singles by Corey Lamoureux and Dove. Hayden retired the next two batters with a fly out and a strikeout.

Palmyra shortstop Dustin Stuck then slapped a single to right field and Lamoureux was off to the races trying to score and tie the game from second base. Linglestown outfielder Kyle Hollingsworth cleanly fielded the ball and threw a laser to Stovall who blocked the plate and tagged out Lamoureux to end the game.

Winning hurler Pete Hayden

The victory puts Linglestown up three games to one in the best-of-seven series and gives the team a chance to win the playoff crown Saturday at Koons Park. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm.

Twilight notes ... Hayden pitched all nine innings (regulation games are seven innings) to run his record this season to 11-1. ... Third baseman Scott Montgomery came up with a fielding gem in the seventh inning to snuff out a Palmyra scoring opportunity. With runners on second and third with one out, he snagged a sharply hit ball down the line, tagged out the runner at third and then completed the double play by throwing out the runner at first to end the inning. ... CLICK HERE for game report from Lebanon Daily News.