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Off the skid: Kelly wins first game of the year
Crowden hits walk-off single in seventh
BENTON -- Thanks to a Dustin Crowden walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh, the Kelly Hawks finally got the monkey off their back.
Coming in to their Wednesday contest with the Bell City Cubs, the Hawks were still looking for their first of the season, starting the year 0-7.
Kelly battled Bell City to a 3-3 tie going in to the final half inning, before Crowden would foul off several pitches before taking a 2-2 offering and singling up the middle to score Gabe Felter from second to give Kelly the 4-3 win.
"I was nervous I'm not going to lie," Crowden said. "I knew I had to make contact with the ball one way or another.
"When he got me 2-2 I knew I had to fight every pitch off until I got a pitch I could drive or get a hit on."
After taking a 2-1 lead in to the sixth, the Hawks almost gave the game away.
Kelly started the sixth walking the first three Bell City batters, leaving the bases loaded with no outs.
Replacing Kelly starter Jeff Gates, who had already thrown over 90 pitches, Gabe Felter came to the mound looking to get the Hawks out of a jam.
After striking out the Cub's No. 9 hitter Terrance Liggins, Felter would go on to walk the next two batters which scored two runners before Josh Overbey singled to bring in the Cubs third and final run of the inning.
Kelly was able to tie it back up in the sixth as Andy Klunk hit a drive up the middle to score Sawyer Elfrink from second.
In the top of the seventh, after an error allowed the lead off batter to reach base, Kelly got a lucky break.
With a runner on first and one out, a pop fly by Bell City's Timmy Long was caught by the right fielder.
The runner at first was unaware if the ball had been dropped or caught and unsure whether to tag up and was caught in a run down to end the inning.
"It was definitely a gift for us," Hawk's coach Nate Wills said. "I can see how it could be confusing because the sun's glaring over in right field and their coach is hollering and I'm hollering.
"So it was kind of mass confusion there for a minute."
It only took three batters in the bottom of the seventh for Kelly to secure the game as Gabe Felter walked to start the inning, followed by Aaron Grainger getting a single to make it first and second with no outs.
Grainger's hit came after he stepped up to the plate with an 0-2 count, replacing starting second baseman Shawn Heuring who was injured trying to bunt.
As mentioned above, Crowden ended game on the next at bat with a single.
"The two things for us is we minimized our mistakes late and we had some clutch hits and some clutch plays in the field late," Wills said.
"We kind of got it together in the end and that helped us prevail."
Of Kelly's nine hits on the afternoon, Crowden same away with three, including a triple.
The Hawks only other player with multiple hits was Elfrink who was 2-for-3.
Felter picked up the win for Kelly pitching the final two innings, surrendering one hit and two walks while striking out one to pick up his first victory of the season.
For the Cubs, Jeff Long winds up taking the loss. Long gave up nine hits and four walks while striking out two.
Bell City's three hits on the night came from their No. 2 and 3 hitters with Long went 2-for-2 and Josh Overbey went 1-for-4.
Bell City's coach Matt Asher blames the Cub's loss on inconsistency through the early part of the season.
"I've been telling the boys all year to be good you have to do a whole bunch of things right," he said. "You can't just have good pitching on one day and good hitting on another day.
"You have to have put it all together. Today we just didn't put it all together."
Bell City 000 003 0 -- 3
Kelly 100 011 1 -- 4
WP -- Gabe Felter (1-2). LP -- Jeff Long (3-1). Multiple hits -- Jeff Long, (B), 2-3, Dustin Crowden, (K), 3-4, Sawyer Elfrink (K) 2-3. Extra-base hits -- 3B: Crowden, (K).