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First National cashes in
Chris-PepperWEB
Chris Pepper watches as he releases a pitch Wednesday night in Newtown against Mud Bums in tournament action.
In Newtown softball tournament action Wednesday night, First National Bank took on Mud Bums in a battle between top teams in the league.First National jumped out to a five-run lead in the bottom of the first inning and had to use a final-inning comeback to win the game, 11-10, advancing it to the next round in the winner’s bracket.Justin Stevens led the way at the plate for First National in the win as he went 3-for-4 at the plate with a single, double and a two-run home run.Barry Taylor, Bubba Lee, Joey Laxson and Bryan Bouldin chipped in four hits, while Hobie Stewart and Jessica Roller added three hits apiece. It was Taylor who smacked the game-winning hit.In the loss, Caleb Northcutt had three hits for Mud Bums to lead the way in the hitting column.First National used a strong first inning, including Stewart’s solo home run in the leadoff position, to build a five-run lead, 6-1, after one.After Mud Bums scored a run in the top half of the second, making it a four-run ballgame, First National came up in the bottom of the inning and scored two thanks to Steven’s two-run bomb, to extend the lead, 8-2.Neither team scored in the third inning, leaving the deficit the same heading into the fourth.After each team exchanged runs in the fourth to keep it a four-run ballgame at the end of four, Mud Bums scored two runs in the top of the fifth and First National added a run in the bottom of the inning as the score remained close, 10-5, going into the final inning of play.Mud Bums rallied in the top half of the fifth and tied the ballgame thanks to timely hitting up and down the lineup, 10-10, but left runners stranded on base, leaving First National one last at-bat to win it.With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Taylor came up clutch as he hit an RBI single to left center to advance First National to the next round of the tournament and send Mud Bums to the loser’s bracket, 11-10.