BOONEVILLE, Mo. – Houston rallied from a four-run deficit after three innings for an 11-8 victory Friday in the opening round of the Cal Ripken 12-year-old State Tournament at the Little League Field in Harley Park.
Brookfield led Houston 3-1 after one and 6-1 after two. However, after pushing across one run in the top-half of the third, Houston came back and tacked on four more runs in the fourth to tie the game at 6-6. Then, after Brookfield plated two more runs in the bottom-half of the fourth to go up by a score of 8-6, Houston came back and added three more runs in the fifth and two again in the sixth for the victory.
Devin Coulter was the winning pitcher in the game for Houston while Blake Linebaugh took the loss for Brookfield.
In six innings, Coulter struck out four batters and gave up eight runs on 13 hits and two walks.
Gage Maxwell, meanwhile, started the game for Brookfield and gave up five runs on three hits and six walks in three-plus innings. Maxwell also struck out two batters.
Blake Linebaugh then came in and pitched two innings and surrendered four runs on three hits and one walk while striking out one. Then, to finish the game, Bryson Corf pitched one inning and issued two runs on two hits and one walk while striking out one.
Coulter led the hitting attack in the game for Houston with three singles and one RBI. D.J. McNew had one single and two RBIs, while Tanner Cantrell and Austin Foster added one single and one RBI and Kolby Walker and Aaron Cantrell with one single each.
For Brookfield, who actually out-hit Houston 13-8, Bryson Corf went 4-for-4 with two singles, two doubles and two RBIs.
Tyler Starlin had two singles and two RBIs, while Jacob Morton added two singles and one RBI, Nate Florine with two singles, Garrett Ennenbach and Blake Linebaugh each with a single and one RBI and Gage Maxwell with one single.