Having posted a 4-0 record in pool play, the Marshall County Dusters advanced to the championship game of the Crethan Hansert Memorial Tournament by defeating the Blackman Blaze 5-4 in eight innings on Sunday afternoon in the semifinals at Coffee County High School.

Blackman held a 3-0 lead through the first three innings of play, but the Dusters fought back and outscored the Blaze 4-1 over the next four frames to tie the game at 4-4.

Marshall County then tallied a run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Chandler Harmon to seize a 5-4 advantage before snuffing out a Blackman scoring threat in the bottom half of the inning to claim the hard fought victory.

11-hit attack

Bolstered by their late offensive surge, the Dusters finished with 11 hits and a walk against Blaze starting pitcher Matt Harnish and reliever Spencer Woods to go along with four Blackman errors. Starting hurler Hayden Bailey (2 RBI), Bubba Houghton, and Connor Bush notched two hits apiece to lead the Dusters at the plate, while Dylan McKnight (1 RBI), Zack Kirby (1 RBI), Ryan Richardson, Lane Whitesell, and Cameron Isley all had one hit.

Relief pitcher Matt Sharp picked up the win on the mound for Marshall County and racked up seven strikeouts in four and two-third innings of work while allowing just one unearned run on three hits. Bailey had to settle for the no decision after yielding three runs over thee and a third innings on six hits.

Cori Richards and Ian Mitzelfeld did the most damage at the plate for Blackman, as Richards went 3-for-4 with a triple and a run scored, while Mitzelfeld added two hits, 2 RBI, and a run scored. Woods suffered the loss on the mound and gave up two runs over three innings on five hits.

Early deficit

The Dusters left two men on base in the top of the first inning before the Blaze crossed home plate twice in the bottom half of the frame with the help of an error, a Harnish double, and a two-run single by Mitzelfeld to take a 2-0 lead.

Blackman tallied another run in the bottom of the third on a RBI groundout by Harnish to open up a 3-0 advantage, but Marshall County plated a run in the top of the fourth with the help of an error, a infield single by Houghton, and a Kirby RBI single to trim the deficit to 3-1.

The Blaze put men on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a single by Nick Carter and a Zane Glass double, but Sharp struck out the next two Blackman batters to keep the deficit at two.

Close clash

In the top of the fifth, the Dusters pushed across two runs in the frame on a two-out RBI bloop single by McKnight and a Bailey RBI double to knot the game at 3-3.

The Blaze scored a run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a sacrifice fly by Glass to grab a 4-3 lead, but Marshall County notched a run in the top of the seventh on the strength of a Bush single, an error, and a two-out RBI single by Bailey to retie the contest at 4-4.

The Dusters finally took the lead in the top of the eighth when Houghton raced home on a sacrifice fly by Harmon to make it 5-4 after leading off the inning with a single and advancing to third on a passed ball and a groundout by Richardson.

Sharp then worked around a leadoff single by Richards in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win for Marshall County.